#I told my mom I want to get the same haircut as him and she nearly fainted

[sophsbookstore]

Exchanged Glances

Charles Leclerc x hairdresser!reader ｡･:*˚:✧｡ 

Masterlist can be found in navigation!

Read pt. 2 here

A/N: Not super edited, I wanted to get it posted before the Grand Prix!

Word count: 1,581

Normally when Charles goes back home to Monaco he has his mom cut his hair. Like clockwork he will arrive at his moms salon, say hello to the various hairdressers and then go to his moms station to get a fresh cut. Only, this time things were different. 

A couple days before he was to arrive home Charles called his mom and asked what day she was free to cut his hair, with the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix it, and with it being his home race he was more available for a haircut than ever.

After their brief greetings to one another Charles’ mom told him that she would be out of town up until the day of the race. For the first time since joining formula one his mom wouldn't be able to cut his hair for him before the Monaco Grand prix.

“Don't worry Cha, I can refer you to another hairdresser at the salon.” She offered, trying to give him another solution.

“I don't know, you've always cut my hair, no one else.” 

“Then this will be a perfect time for you to step out of your comfort zone. Don't worry I know the perfect person, she’s new, around your age and she's magic in the salon.” Trusting his mom this easies Charles' nerves slightly.

“Ok maman.” The driver sighs in defeat.

“Wonderful! When you go to the salon ask for Y/N.'' With that his mom bid him farewell, telling him when to be at the salon, not going into any more detail about this mysterious hairdresser.

Before he knew it the day had come, he was going to step out of his comfort zone and have a complete stranger touch his hair. He hoped his mom wasn't lying when she was hyping up Y/N and her skills, he didn't want to go to the paddock looking a mess.

Charles enters the salon, all the employees giving him waves and greeting him. He's known some of these people his whole life, whenever he stepped foot in the salon it was like he was being greeted by family.

“Hello Charles, what can I help you with today?” The lady at the front desk asked.

"Hello, yes, my mom told me to ask for Y/N?” The boy shrugged in confusion.

“Oh of course! I'll go get her.” The lady that once sat in front of him was now off searching for the mysterious magic woman that was going to cut his hair.

Charles felt like he was waiting for hours, the salon wasn't that big was it? Maybe it was all in his head. He stood to the side of the waiting area, too consumed with stress to sit down and relax. Before he knew it the front desk lady came back, the woman he assumed to be Y/N trailing behind her.

This is when he finally got to have a good look at her. She was beautiful, why didn't his mom tell him that they started hiring part time models at the salon. The two stood awkwardly, both taking in one another, waiting for someone to make the first move.

Y/N cleared her throat. “Hello Charles, I’m Y/N. just follow me back to my station and we’ll get started”

Charles was too dumbfounded to respond, instead the man stuttered silently before nodding and following Y/N to the back of her salon. During the short walk to her station, Charles thought of questions to ask the beautiful girl, desperately wanting to hear the sound of her voice again.

“Thanks for trusting me with your hair today, your mom told me that you don't really let anyone else cut your hair.” She giggled.

“Oh! Yeah, she's been cutting mine and my brothers hair since we were kids.”

“That's so sweet. I understand where you're coming from I don't let anyone cut my hair, only myself.'' This put Charles at ease. Knowing that she thinks the same way he does, even about something so simple as hair.

After some comfortable small talk Y/N led Charles further back into the salon, sitting the boy down in a chair before leaning him back and washing his hair. The driver seemed to melt in her touch as she ran her fingers through his hair.

When Y/N pulled her hands away to apply more product Charles felt incomplete, like he was missing a sense of stability and peace within himself. Just as soon as she removed her hands she placed them back, continuing to massage his scalp with the shampoo.

Y/N pats Charles’ shoulders signaling to him that the wash was done and that they had to make their way back to her station. Y/N led the way, Charles trailing behind the girl before taking his spot in front of her in the salon chair.

“Are you excited for the grand prix?” Y/N questions taking some of his hair between her fingers, beginning the cut

“Very. I have a good feeling and my son will be there, hopefully we secure P1 and P2.”

“You have a son? What's his name?” Y/N questions, his mom not mentioning anything about a grandson.

“Oh! My apologies he's not really my son. He's a driver on the grid that I've somewhat adopted for the race weekend so that he can claim the Monaco grand prix as his home race.” Charles looks at Y/N hoping she doesn't find what he said both weird and confusing.

“HA!” The hairdresser laughed out loud. “Well congrats to him, I hope he has a fun and successful home race as well. I'll be sure to congratulate your maman about her newly found grandson.” 

Charles sat up a little higher in the chair, “Are you coming to the race?”

“I wish I could but I have to work, don't worry though, the salon will be playing the race so everyone can watch.” Y/N stopped cutting for a moment, looking at Charles through the mirror placed in front of them before giving him a warm smile.

Y/N picked up another section of his hair, continuing to snip away leaving Charles to examine the girl through the mirror. Y/N looked up from behind him, making a quick glance at him before the pair broke eye contact, looking separate ways.

Slowly their eyes started moving back to the mirror. The scissors snapping shut as the pair hold eye contact. Charles felt the tip of his ears getting hotter, the pair both noticing one another's subtle hints of red creeping onto their faces.

“Notice anything Mr. Leclerc?” Y/N questions, the corners of her mouth turning upward.

Charles opens his mouth to speak but words don't come out.

“Don't think I haven't noticed the subtle glances, there is either something on my face and you're trying to figure out how to tell me, or something going on in this head of yours.” She turns her attention back to his hair, the haircut almost over.

“I-” he clears his throat, “I was admiring you. You're very good at what you do.”

“I deeply appreciate Charles, truly.” Y/N made her final touches to the haircut. Unbuttoning the cloth that was draped over Charles, before dusting off his shoulders of any hair. “You're all finished, let me find a mirror so you can see the back.”

Y/N walked toward an unknown part of the salon, Charles' eyes following the girl through the mirror until she came back. This is it, if he doesn't say anything now he might never see her again.

The hairdresser came back, handing Charles a small hand held mirror for him to examine the back of his head. He admired her work, impressed with her skills. Placing the mirror down on a ledge near her station he got out of his chair and turned to her.

The two stared at one another, practically chest to chest. “Will you come to the grand prix?” He asked breathlessly.

“Nothing would delight me more but I have to work.” Y/N sighed looking away for a moment before her attention was pulled back to Charles.

“If you can't come to the race can you accompany me for dinner after?” Y/N looked at Charles, her cheeks getting ever so pinker.

“Mr. Leclerc are you asking me on a date?”

“That depends, would you like to go on a date with me?” Charles asked, not missing a beat.

“Yes Charles, I would love to.” 

Charles smiled from ear to ear, desperately wanting to bounce off the walls with excitement, stopping himself before he could embarrass himself. “Then I will see you tomorrow.” He nodded in satisfaction.

“See you tomorrow Charles.” Charles walked away from the hairdresser, giving her a quick glance back before making his way back to the lady at the front desk.

“Hair looks great! What did you think of Y/N?” She asked, ringing him up so he could make his payment.

“She's fantastic, I think maman will have some competition.” The two laughed, Charles paid, giving her a quick goodbye.

As soon as he exited the salon he called his mom, updating her on his post race plans, greatly thanking her for offering Y/N to cut his hair.

[creedslove]

RUNNING INTO JOEL'S EX 🍓 - HEADCANONS

No outbreak!Joel Miller x f!reader

A/N: I missed our husband's headcanons 🥺😭

It was supposed to be just another Saturday morning in which you and Joel went grocery shopping for the weekend

He hadn't worked that morning, so he was extra affectionate after the incredible lazy sex you two had in the morning

He pushed the shopping cart with one hand as the other wrapped around your waist; he simply loved that cute outfit you were wearing, your summer blouse was his favorite color and your damn tight jeans showing perfectly how sexy your ass was, was enough to make his jeans tight

You looked up at him and realized he had forgotten to brush his hair, it was time for him to get a haircut as his curls were beginning to get wild, but you also loved them that way

You ran your fingers through his hair to put it back into place, but loving how it felt under your touch, giggling at him

"you're so handsome, Joel"

He pulled you closer, your body pressed tight against his at the same time his hand ran up and down your side gently

You two talked about your plans for the weekend, placing the things in your cart distractedly, just having a mundane moment between a married couple

You looked into his eyes, you didn't know what was up, but Joel was just so effortless handsome that morning, he looked so relaxed and you just couldn't help yourself, leaning in and pecking his lips gently

He was about to deepen the kiss, for once not bothering about the PDA, when a voice interrupted the two of you

"Joel?! Who's that?"

His ex, Sarah's mom stood in front of you shocked, pushing her own shopping cart and not believing the coincidence of running into the ex she'd abandoned along with few-month-old baby

You could see Joel tensed up immediately and in a blink of an eye your relaxed husband was gone at the same time the woman stared harshly at you. You recognized some of the features you've seen on Sarah on the woman's face

And you were pretty sure you'd seen at least a couple of pictures of a younger version of that woman, still pregnant, and a very young Joel. It'd been Tommy who showed you once he was helping his brother clean up the garage, as both your husband and Sarah didn't like seeing pictures of the woman who abandoned them

"Come on Joel, let's go honey…"

You suggested it, taking him by the arm and pulling him with you, but his ex smirked as her eyes ran to your hands seeing the beautiful engagement ring and the wedding band you always wore

"You gave her a ring, Joel… a fancy one, seems like things are going good for you, you even got a young thing to cook and clean for you"

She teased and you could tell he was running out of patience, you already hated that woman, she left, abandoning her husband and daughter and the moment she ran into him again, she couldn't even ask about her, instead she was more concerned about the jewelry your husband had given you

"You don't get to talk about my wife that way, we don't owe you any explanation, you left me and our daughter, who's doing great by the way, not that you care in anyway"

"I've already told you many times I wasn't made for motherhood, Joel, you got me pregnant and I didn't want to live a miserable life next to you and a child I didn't know how to raise"

Joel's veins began popping at her words, you could tell he was holding himself back and trying to control his anger but that woman was able to get under his skin in a way you had never seen before

You placed your hand on his arm and asked him to leave, before their interaction could escalate to a fight or something like that, you just wished you hadn't bumped into that woman

He clenched his jaw but nodded at you and began pushing the cart towards another direction and walked away; you could see she was ready to give a snarky remarks but you took a step closer and stared deadly into her eyes

"You chose to walk away from them and Joel suffered too much because of that, not only him, your daughter too, of course, but eventually they managed to forget about you and now Joel's happy because I make him happy, yeah, I'm younger and I clean and cook but I also love my husband and I love to know I'll always be better than you at everything. You're a bad person and it's no one's fault but your own you are a miserable person"

You left the woman behind and you managed to reach Joel standing in line to pay for the groceries; you could tell he was deep in thought and you let him be, knowing he needed some time to process what happened

The ride home was silent and you didn't say much, and the few things you'd said Joel either didn't reply or just mumbled an answer, and you knew it wasn't a great time for conversation

Once you got home, you put the groceries away and asked Joel what he wanted for lunch, but he just said he wasn't hungry so you nodded and just made yourself a sandwich

In the afternoon you didn't have much to do, so you sat down to read a book and ended up falling asleep while Joel stayed outside doing some hard work here and there and keeping himself busy

You woke up and saw him in the backyard, sighing and going to the kitchen. Even if he wasn't angry with you, you still felt upset that woman had to ruin a seeming perfect day

You wanted to distract yourself so you grabbed some ingredients and started sorting things out to bake a cake, at least you could use something to sweeten your day

You were distracting following the recipe when you felt arms wrapping around your waist and a big presence holding you

You looked up at Joel, who rested his chin on your shoulder, sighing and keeping you close

"I'm sorry darling, I just got really angry with her and I didn't want to take out on you… I-"

You silenced him with a kiss, his arms so tight around your body, holding you as if you were the most precious stone he'd ever seen, you were too good for him and he was sure he didn't deserve you but there you were, his wife, the real love of his life and that was what really mattered to him, you two were meant to be ❤️

_____

A/N: I need to marry this man asap 🥺❤️

[kxmisato]

♡ AUTUMN — DAN HENG

↳ characters : exbf!dan heng x gn!reader

↳ genre : fluff, like a pinch of angst

↳ synopsis : after receiving a text from your ex-boyfriend’s little sister asking to hang out and accepting, you go over to their house. there’s no way you’d see him again, right?

↳ note : opera house by cigarettes after sex (he is so bf, so autumn time bf, so fall time.)

bailu ♡ (dan heng sis): 

y/n are you busy

i miss you a lot

can we hang out

you:

hi bai

bailu ♡ (dan heng sis):

hi

you:

i miss you too and no i’m not busy, i’m on fall break

idk if we should hang out though,

i don’t want to make dan heng uncomfortable

bailu ♡ (dan heng sis):

who cares about him !!

i’m talking about you and me

not him

he STINKS

you:

LOL

ur so cute bailu

but you shouldn’t say that about ur brother

he cares about you a lot

bailu ♡ (dan heng sis):

ya but

i’m mad at him

bc you guys broke up

you:

we both agreed to break up bailu

we just got busy with midterms

bailu ♡ (dan heng sis):

do you still love him?

you:

dang

right into the deep questions, huh bai?

bailu ♡ (dan heng sis):

IM SORRY Y/N

you:

LMAO

it’s okay dw

yeah i still do love him

bailu ♡ (dan heng sis):

then will you get back together?

pls get back together

i miss you

you:

i would like to get back together but i don’t know if he wants to

i miss you too

bailu ♡ (dan heng sis):

can we please hang out

we can do it when he’s not home

i will text you when he leaves the house

i think he’s going to the library today

okay?

you:

okay bai

but i think you should tell him before i come over

bailu ♡ (dan heng sis):

fine

i will see you soon !!

i’m sooo excoted !!!!

excited* !!!!

you:

me too!!

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

though bailu said that she would tell her older brother, she in fact did not. about half an hour after she had sent ‘he’s gone !!! come over FAST !!!’ and made your way over, you heard the front door to the house unlock. 

internally you were hoping it was their mom coming home from work, but a sliver of you also hoped it was dan heng. 

even though your break up was a mutual one, it still stung, bad. the two of you agreed to try and avoid each other on campus, thinking it would make things easier for you but instead it made you feel emptier.

someone who you had talked to everyday for 2 years had become a stranger in the matter of seconds, he was a part of your routine and you were a part of his, the sudden removal of each other made it hard to accept.

which is why you were hoping it was him walking through that door. then when it was, that pinch of excitement you had quickly faded into anxiety as your stomach dropped when his face came into view.

it was the first time you had seen him in 7 months, he looked the same. same blue eyes, same beauty mark on his neck, same brown hair, but a bit shorter, did he get a haircut?

“oh.” is the first thing he said when he seen you. 

oh? really? ‘oh’ is all you’re going to say?

“bailu, you said that you told him that i was coming over?” you turned to the girl.

“o-oh… i did? i must’ve forgotten to ask…” she stumbles out, pink flush creeping it’s way up the back of her neck to her cheeks. “i was going to ask him but he was already in his car when i was going to…”

you sigh, “it’s okay bai, i’m not mad at you. i think i might just leave though.”

“what?! no! please don’t leave, i’ve missed you so much, y/n.” there’s a tremble in bailu’s voice. “please.”

“you can stay,” dan heng interrupts. “i don’t mind.”

“you’re not uncomfortable?” you ask, looking up hesitantly. though you’re exes, you still care and respect him.

“yeah, it’s okay.” he gives you a quick smile. “i’ll just be in my room.”

“oh, uh, okay, thank you.” you sputter, feeling heat rise to your cheeks.

“no problem.” he says, and as you turn back around to look at bailu, you hear his feet pad heavily down the hall.

“you can’t do that again bailu, okay? i’ve missed you too, but it’s not fair to dan heng to have me be here without him knowing.”

“okay… i promise i won’t do it again. i just really missed you.” she mumbles.

“i’ve missed you too,” you sigh lightly and then change the subject. “so what movie did you want to watch? i think you’d like the princess diaries.”

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

during the first half of the movie, bailu was enthralled by it. but once you had been watching for half an hour, bailu let out her first yawn. then five minutes later, she let out another one, and then ten minutes later, she was passed out on her end of the couch.

you looked over and smiled at her sleeping form, then got up and covered her with the throw blanket you were occupying.

you stretched lightly, feeling the need to straighten out after lounging in the same position for a while, then picked up your empty cup of tea on the coffee table and made your way to the kitchen.

everything in the house was the exact same, considering how long you and dan heng have been broken up for, regardless if it’s felt like longer than it has been.

family photos litter the walls, photos of bailu and dan heng when they were babies, wedding photos, and dan heng’s graduation photo. you were in that photo, wearing a matching cap and gown with him and cheesy smiles.

making your way into the kitchen, you rinse your empty cup with water and think about why that picture was still up. 

why didn’t they change it out?

too lost in your thoughts, you didn’t hear dan heng’s footsteps head towards the kitchen until you heard his voice.

“oh. sorry, i’ll just come back later.” he says, and goes to turn around.

“no! sorry, no it’s, um, it’s okay. i was just putting my cup in the sink. besides it’s your house, i’m just a guest in it.” you rush out.

“ah, okay,” he replies, making his way past you and grabs a glass out of one of the upper cabinets. “you know you’re not just a guest, right?”

“what do you mean?” you turn and ask, wanting to look at his eyes but breaking eye contact as soon as his eyes met yours.

“my mom and bailu love you, you’re basically family to them.”

“oh, but aren’t you uncomfortable?” you ask, though you wanted to also know what you were to him. were you family to him too? does he still love you?

“no. i’m not.” he says matter-of-factly.

“really?”

“really.”

“...”

“...”

the silence between the two of you was deafening but oddly, it wasn’t uncomfortable. it almost felt like the two of you had never broken up. like you were just talking in the kitchen during winter break as you had before, and it not being 7 months since the last time you talked.

“...i–” you start.

“can we talk about something?” he interrupts.

“yeah, what is it?” you ask.

dan heng gets up from where he was leaning against the counter, making his way over to the sliding glass doors to the backyard. “do you mind if we talk out here?”

“no, not at all.” you say.

dan heng motions for you to head out first, and you mumble a quick ‘thank you’ as you step out of the doors, with him following close behind you. 

as you walk out, you’re met with the crisp autumn air. the coolness brushes against your cheeks as your eyes settle on the falling leaves of trees in his backyard.

he closes the doors as you sit down in one of the lounge chairs on the deck, then he makes his way over to sit in the one across from yours.

“so…” you play with the hem of your sweater, “what did you want to talk about?” 

does he want to talk about us?

“i.. uh…” he starts. “how have you been?”

how have i been? that’s what he wants to ask?

“i’ve been fine, i guess? what about you?”

“i’ve been,” he clears his throat. “fine too. how were your midterms?”

“they went okay…?” 

this is weird, you think.

“that’s good. i’m glad they went well.”

then the same silence from before is back, but this one is awkward, deafening. it takes up the air of the conversation and feels suffocating.

“so, what did you want to ask me, dan heng? or did you just want to catch up?” you question.

instead of answering your question, dan heng remains silent, his eyes meeting yours and then immediately looking away.

you let out a sigh as you stand up from where you were seated. that slightest bit of hope you held onto for the conversation about your relationship quickly dissipated.

“i think i’m just going to go, it’s getting late anyways and bailu has school tomorrow, right?” you say and walk to the sliding doors. “could you let her know that i paused the movie when she fell asleep? i don’t want her to wake up and get upset thinking that she missed the rest of i–”

“i’ve missed you.” he finally says.

you turn to look at him again, his back is facing towards you and his head is hanging low.

“what…?” you mumble quietly.

“i’ve missed you, and i think that we should try again.”

“really?” you say in disbelief. he had seemed so unbothered when he seen you for the first time earlier today. you had thought that you were the only one affected by seeing each other for the first time in months.

“i’ve been thinking about you non-stop since we broke up. and not being able to talk to you, see you, touch you, was horrible.” he breathes out. “i tried to stop thinking about you, but wherever i go, i get reminded of you.”

you walk back over and stand in front of him. 

“i’ve missed you too. so much.” you admit.

“i’ve wanted to call you so many times, i’ve wanted to see you so badly. see your mom, bailu, you. i missed you so much, dan heng.” you croak out, feeling the sting of tears in your eyes as you try to hold them back.

dan heng stands up, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulls you closer. he rests his head in the crook of your neck, refamiliarizing himself with the smell of your perfume. 

vanilla and cashmere, like always for the fall time he thinks.

when his arms crept around your waist, yours wrapped around his neck and you melted into his warmth again, it contrasting to the cool air of fall.

your hands play with the bottom locks of his hair as he pulls you impossibly tighter against him, afraid that if he lets you go, you’ll never come back.

when you pull back, you study his face again. the same blue eyes, same pouty lips, same beauty mark on his neck. the same dan heng. 

“i like your haircut by the way” you giggle and a light smile spreads across his lips.

“yeah?” he says. 

“yeah, it suits you.”

[minimomoe]

Love Bites

Baker Fem Reader x Toji Fushiguro (mafia au)

word ct: 15.1k, 11 Chapters

tags: Fluff, grumpy x sunshine, found family, a little angsty but nothing too bad, marriage proposal, established relationship, (last chapter only: kitchen sex, creampie, oral- fem receiving, other sexxy funtime stuff)

Chapter Six: Warm Water

“I spent Thanksgiving with somebody who wasn’t Rina this time around. I’m sure you guessed it, so yes, it was with Toji and his family,” you smile. “They have such different personalities but I can tell they really care for each other. I almost started crying in the middle of it.” 

You recount the last couple of weeks to Ezra while wiping him down with a warm towel. You know that the nurses do the same but you want to do something for him as well. You gently lay him back into the bed and dip the towel into the bowl of water beside you. “I guess you can say that we’re dating now. Well not that I guess, Toji said that. Actually, he asked to be together and I agreed. He wouldn’t force anything on me,” you explain to him. “Maybe it’s because I haven’t been in a relationship in so long but everything is so exciting. He still visits the shop when he can, but now I spend the weekends with him and his son.”

Your eyes widen as you realize what you admitted to your brother. “Before you get upset, Megumi’s a real sweet kid. And there’s no ex wife or girlfriend that I’m dealing with. I think the mom may have passed away, but I will wait for them to tell me when they’re ready. I think you’d like Megumi. He loves animals. I told him that you were a vet and he had so many questions that only you could answer,” you smile apologetically. “He has a little journal of different animals and their traits, then he gives those animals to different people in his life. Toji is a wolf. Yuji is a tiger. That’s Megumi’s best friend who he loves very much, even if he won’t admit it. Nobara is a fox. That’s his other best friend. Gojo’s a peacock, Nanami is a great white shark, Sukuna’s a bear, and Choso’s a jellyfish. You’ll know who I’m talking about when you wake up.” 

You push a thick curl out of Ezra’s face. “I should give you a haircut,” you mutter. You clutch your hand in a fist next to his head. “It’s not that I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. You know that I’m a hopeless romantic. I fell in love too many times to count,” you chuckle to yourself. You pull your hand back into your lap and sigh. “But with him I feel… I feel safe. I realize that before I was always waiting for the ball to drop, for another horrific incident to blindside me, but I haven’t felt that impending doom hanging over my head in a while.” You release a shuddering breath and blink up at the fluorescent lights to avoid crying. 

“I’m starting to clean up their house. I found mom’s cookbooks, if you can even call them that. You know she had that doctor handwriting that’s impossible to read. I also know that she never really measured anything, so all those recipes are her estimating,” you laugh softly. “I’m thinking about making those cardamon lumps she used to make for us during the holidays for Toji. I also have no idea what to get him for Christmas. Oh, speaking of getting things, I got you another book!” You dig in your bag to retrieve the new book. 

You give a small smile. “It’s called Before the Coffee Gets Cold. It’s a book about time traveling, surprisingly. I won’t spoil it too much, but I would love to travel back to talk to mom and dad again, even if it won’t change anything. They even have an old cafe that they always went to that could work like the book.”

 Before you could say another word a monitor above Ezra’s head started to beep rapidly. You look at it with concern, unsure of what the machine was reading. Within seconds the other monitors screech as well. You watch in horror while red flashes on all of the screens. Ezra’s expression hasn’t changed, but you rush out of the room, screaming for a nurse or anybody to come help. A few orderlies hear your distress, alerting nearby nurses that run to your location. They all swarm to Ezra’s side, checking his vitals and yelling codes at each other. You watch helplessly behind them. Another orderly tries to pull you away from the scene but you stood stock still.

“Ma’am, you need to leave the room now.”

“Will he be okay? What’s going on?”

“He’s getting the best treatment possible, but please, you can’t stay here.”

“What’s wrong with him? What are they saying?”

“Ma’am please,” the orderly gives you a pained look.

Tears swim in your eyes when you look back onto the bed. A swirl of green, blue and white mix together when the tears get heavy enough. You allow yourself to be pulled away from the room as ordered, leaving the nurses and now doctor to treat your brother. You are led to the waiting room by yourself. The orderly offers to get water but you wave her away. You pace back and forth in the small space, your mind running wild with all the worst possibilities. In haste you trip over your own feet, stumbling into a chair at the last second to avoid hurting yourself, but everything hurts. Your heart clenches, your stomach is churning, your breaths are shallow. With shaky hands you grab your phone, pressing the first contact on your call log. With two rings the line picks up, and you're greeted with Toji’s deep voice. 

“Hey baby, how are you?”

You can’t speak. The grief is too much, an invisible hand that constricts your throat so that only a choked sob falls from your lips. You want to explain what’s happening but fail again. Toji starts to panic on the other line, trying to get information out from you but the only thing he can hear is you weeping. 

“Send me your location. Can you hear me? Just let me know where you are, I’ll come to you.”

“I’m at the hospital,” you whisper. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“Is it your brother? You won’t be alone.”

Toji’s answer was another wave of tears from you. He hates to hear you cry so hard, and he hates that he’s so far away from you. He looks at Nanami, who already saw his demeanor change and waves him away. 

“I got it from here,” the blond man says. Toji gives him an appreciative nod, leaving him with the bloody men they cornered. Nanami already paid him no mind, getting down to business without him. 

Toji looks down at the mess on the floor and realizes he has blood on his shoes. He couldn’t scare you any more with that. He doesn’t want to scare you at all. Your last words echo in his head before he hung up, about how you didn’t want to be alone. He leaves Nanami without saying another word. 

Back at the hospital you wait in the empty waiting room. Despite you declining it the first time, a styrofoam cup of water sits beside you brought by the orderly. You flick it every so often, watching the ripples bounce, cross, and settle on the sides. You’ve calmed down from your call to Toji. Now there’s a cold, mucky feeling sitting heavy on your chest. You empty the contents within the cup in one gulp, trying to wash it down, but the room temperature water felt like slime going down your throat. 

Chapters: I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI.

M.list || Ao3 || Twitter || Ko-fi

[nauwuna]

Metting there future childs

Warning:English is not my first language

Note:D/n=daughter name S/n=son name T1/n= twins one name T2/n=twins two name

Manjiro Sano/Ran Haitani/Rindou Haitani

Mikey

You and Mikey are taking a walk.

While you two walk you see a blonde girl, she probably have the same age as you two, she was surrounded by boys.

Mikey look at you and say: <<stay here, I'll be quick>>

But before he intervened the girl start to fight the guys, she kick one of them straight in the face, Mikey stop himself and start watching that girl.

She have the same haircut as him and her eyes there something familiar in it, he thinks.

<<pathetic>> the girl says after kick all the guys.

<<wow>> you say look at her, and now you sees her more clearly she looks like Mikey.

<<ah? W-wha-Mom? What are you doings here?>> she look at you panick about what she did.

<<mom? I have your same age>> you say as you look at her eyes, she have your same eyes.

<<wait a minute>> the girl looks at you and Mikey <<you are my dad and my mom, but I think I'm in the wrong timeliness>>

<<what are you talking about?>> Mikey ask to her very confused.

<<my name is D/n Sano, I'm your future daughter>> she smiled at you two, you noticed she have Mikey's expression.

<<she have your eyes>>

<<and your hair>> you say looking at your future daughter.

You three go get some dorayaki together, your daughter is like your boyfriend after all, it's like have a two child.

<<I think it's time to return to my timeliness>> she says at the two of you and smiled <<It was nice to meet you when you were young, see you soon!>> D/n disappears into a temporary portal.

<<it looks like i'm going to have two kids>> you look at Mikey.

<<but you love them>> he smiled at you.

<<D/n! Where are you been? I was so worried>> my mother hugs me. <<I'm sorry mom, I went to meet you two when you was young apparently>> i look up to the photo where mom and dad are young, he hugs her from behind and there also uncle Draken and uncle Takemichi with others friends of my parents. <<meet the young me?>> she was confused, my dad come from behind and hugs her. <<what she did know?>> my father look at me, I smile and think about them when they were young, nothing has changed since then. <<mom! Dad! let's go buy some dorayaki!>> <<yes! That's my daughter>> mom sighs look at me and dad. <<let's bought some dorayaki for this two kids>>

Ran

<<I want an ice cream>> you told him while pointing the ice cream shop.

<<that's fine, if that's what my princess wants>> he smiled at you and you two go to the ice cream shop.

two kids surpass you and your boyfriend.

<<T1/n! T2/n! Stop right there!>> a girl shout to them, she runs to catch up with the two boys.

<<don't run away from me like that>> Your eyes widen as you notice Ran's resemblance to the girl, her hair was dyed like him and her eyes are the same color of Ran's eyes.

Ran look down at the two child, they looks so alike, they were twins.

<<Sorry Nee-san>> the two twins apologies.

<<this reminds me of when I scolded Rindou as a child>> the girl look up to sees Ran.

<<Dadd!!!>> the two siblings hugs your boyfriend legs, the sister look at the two of you.

<<Dad? Ran!?>>

<<I swear, I don't know what they talking about>> he looks at the twins.

<<did you dyed your hair again dad?>> one of them ask to him, you and Ran look to each other confused.

<<I think we need explain that>> the girl signs <<I'm D/n Haitani, your future daughter>>

<<T1/n Haitaniii>> one of the twins says.

<<T2/n Haitani>> the other smiles, you and Ran look at them for long time.

<<she looks exactly like you>>

<<and the twins looks like you my dear>> you look at them and sees that they have your hair colour and Ran's eyes.

<<they are so cute>> you grab the cheeks of one of them, Ran takes the other in his arms, the five of you go for a walk while eating an ice cream.

<<I think it's time to go home, T1/n, T2/n, let's go>> The three disappear through a portal, Ran looks at you.

<<so, would you marry me?>>

<<we still to young Ran!>>

<<Mom!!! Dad!!!>> my little brothers run away from me to hugs our parents. <<there you are D/n>> my father says looking at me, my mom takes my brothers in her arms and start to kiss them. <<my little pests>> <<how was the trip?>> dad ask me while looking to my mom. <<I felt like ice cream>>

Rindou

You and Rindou go out of the CD store.

<<thank you so much Rin!>> you hug him and kiss his cheeks <<I love you>>

<<come on, it's just an album>> he blushing while you still kiss his face.

<<it's not just an album! It's the album of my favourite band/singer and it's also a very special edition>> you smiled at him.

Rindou bought the album of your favorite band/singer  autographed.

<<I'm happy you like it>> he give you a quick smile.

<<oh don't worry dad, mom love that album! She still listen to it>> you and your boyfriend turn around to see who talking, a little girl with purple eyes looks at the two of you.

<<I remember all the songs of that album, me and mom like to sing together when she coking for us>>

<<mom? What are you talking about?>> your boyfriend asks to the little girl but suddenly another boy appears, from his appearance he appears to be 15 years old.

<<there you are D/n! God don't run away like that>> the boy looks exactly like your boyfriend.

<<look nii-chan! I found mom and dad from the past!>> you two still shocked for the situation.

<<huh?>> the boy looks at the two of you and His eyes widen.

<<oh...>>

<<I'm D/n Haitani and this is my stupid big brother S/n Haitani, we're come from the future>> you and your boyfriend stare at them for a while until you realize the similarity.

<<does this mean that we will get married and have two beautiful children!?>> you look at your boyfriend who is still freeze.

<<I think we broke dad>>

<<yeah, we need to go D/n>> S/n take is sister in his arms.

<<bye mom, bye dad>> the two of them disappeared in a portal.

<<what the fuck is happen?>> Rindou Ask.

<<I think we see our future child>> you laugh at him as he still shocked.

<<there you two are, dinner is almost ready>> my mom smile, I put down my sister who I was holding in my arms, she runs to mom. <<we do a strange trip dad>> I laughed look at my father. <<what trip?>> <<just a simple time travel>>

[col-islander43]

Haircut

Mat Barzal x reader

Warnings: none

Word count: {1,033}

"No, you're not." was your immediate response after Mat walked into your shared bedroom, claiming he was getting a haircut.

He stopped in his tracks, his brows drew together, and a pout formed on his lips as he stared at you in confusion. Trying to keep it together, you asked "What's wrong?"

Shaking his head, a sigh escaping his lips as he continued walking toward the bathroom "Nothing. My mom said the same thing when I told her I was getting my hair cut. It's just a bit creepy."

Joining him in the bathroom, you sat on the counter as he got out everything he needed to shave, he liked doing it the traditional way. There wasn't much to shave, just a bit of stubble, but he got used to having his face clean-shaven. So against your wishes, he was going to shave, you loved his facial hair and you were open about it.

"How about you sleep on it and make a decison tomorrow?" you bit your lip to suppress your smile when he gave you the same look from before as he applied shaving cream to his face.

"Babe, I already decided. I'm getting my hair cut on Friday I just have to make the appointment." Stepping in between your legs he handed you the razor, knowing you loved helping him shave even if you loved his facial hair more.

You had until Friday to convince him to not cut his hair since today was Tuesday "It's not fair, you know? You shave your beard, and you'll cut your hair which by the way didn't grow that much, what am I supposed to look forward too?" the teasing tone lacing your voice seemed to escape your boyfriend as he stared at you with his mouth wide open.

"You did not just say that!" his disbelieving tone and facial expression made laughter burst out of your mouth, hiding your face in his chest, careful to avoid the shaving cream.

You placed a couple of pecks on his exposed collarbone before looking up at him again "I'm kidding, love. I find it unfair because when I cut my hair you throw a fit for days."

"That's diff-" he cut off his sentence when you leveled him with a look that spoke for you. "Ok. I can't promise that my decison will change, but I'll sleep on it, only because you asked. Now give me a kiss, I'm getting touch starved."

You were about to protest, but before you could get the words out he had given you a peck on the lips which resulted in shaving cream covering small parts of your face.

---------

Laying on your side you watched the sun shining through the blinds, gently caressing Mat's face and highlighting all his features that you loved. Like every morning, you softly traced all his features with your thumb, the other hand raking through his hair, careful not to wake him up.

"I think you've memorized my whole face, you probably already had it memorized the first week you stayed over." His gruff morning voice startled you even if he was whispering.

"I'm sorry if I woke you." You slowly retracted your hands, placing them on his chest but Mat wasn't pleased with that decision. He pulled you closer, shaking his head as he placed your hands in their previous positions.

"You didn't wake me, but I'll get upset if you stop all the caressing. I'm feeling loved." The boyish grin that took over his face told you he was teasing you, but you continued your caressing because you liked doing it.

"You are loved. I love you. And I'll tell you every chance I get. Also, if you really want to get a haircut I'll suck it up and accept it, but your mom said she'll disown you." your voice was slightly above a whisper as he opened his eyes, confusion taking over his features.

"I love you too, but when did you talk to my mom?"

You chuckled when his lips formed into a pout, pecking his lips you caressed his brow "Yesterday. After you called her and went to the store to buy the cookies you claim are for me but eat your weight in. She sounded desperate and I can't blame her."

His jaw dropped as he softly pinched your waist "What's that supposed to mean?! Also they are good cookies."

You shrugged your shoulders trying to come up with a good answer "Baby, you're pretty, you're gorgeous, you're handsome just the way you are. You don't need a haircut."

He kissed your forehead as a way of thanking you before quickly pulling back "Hey! Don't avoid the question."

"I'm not avoiding the question." You definitely were "You don't need a haircut, it's a decent length." you gently pulled a couple of strands before pecking his lips "Especially after what happened last time." you murmured under your breath.

"What did you say? Speak up, sweetheart." He said the words in a low voice, the smirk on his face revealing he heard you loud and clear.

"Nothing." You looked down avoiding his gaze, but that didn't last long because he placed his finger under your chin lifting your gaze. He shook his head telling you he wasn't going to let this go.

"Speak up, baby."

His words made you squirm slightly, he knew exactly what he was doing "I said, especially after what happened last time. We're both a bit scared, babe. You said you were going to trim the ends and then you came back bald."

He burst out laughing, rolling onto his back and dragging you with him so you could lay on his chest "I wasn't bald."

You hid your face in the crook of his neck as your face slightly reddened "There's a difference between trimming the ends and getting a buzz cut. If you really want to get a hair cut I can trim your ends."

He pulled away slightly, his brows drawn together "You can do that? Why don't I know this?"

"I can trim ends I have done it before. And you never asked."

"We have been together for 2 years, how can I not know that?"

---------------------------------------------------------

Hi, Hi. School finished a couple of weeks ago so I'll try and post more.

Feedback is appreciated, hope you guys enjoyed!

[mariaofdoranelle]

Look at Us Now - Easter Outtake

Fic masterlist

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TO LAUN!!

SURPRISE!! I’m late to my own party, and I 100% apologize for that

But!

I can’t believe LAUN is a year old already 🥹🥹 they grow up so fast!! I don’t think an Easter celebration is canon compliant at all, but I couldn’t let the opportunity slip away when LAUN’s 1st anniversary came right on Easter 🥹🥹🥹 I’m so emotional 🥹

I’m also aware that not everyone here celebrates Easter, but honestly this was just an excuse to write fluff and chocolate gift-giving. I hope everyone finds a way to enjoy it!

And I feel like we all deserve a post-epilogue glimpse after an entire year of these two idiots heheheh

Warnings: cranky teenager Maisie, sibling fights (lots)

Words: 3k

Every time Aelin mocked Rowan for spoiling their kids too much, it completely lacked the awareness that she was the one he spoiled the most.

Or at least that was on Maisie’s mind as she strolled down the supermarket’s aisles with her little brother, because Mom wrote in the family group chat that she wanted pasta for dinner, so Dad asked Maisie to buy the ingredients after school.

“Finn,” she called her unrequited companion, “do you remember which olive oil Dad likes?”

“Uh…” The boy hesitated without taking his eyes off his Nintendo Switch. “I dunno, that green one?”

Maisie slapped her brother’s forearm with the back of her hand. “Are you being for real right now?”

Startled, the boy raised his head to see row after row of different green bottles of olive oil. They all looked exactly the same, but she knew better than to grab the first one they saw, knowing how fussy her dad could be sometimes.

“Gods! Just call him—that’s why you have a fucking phone,” Finn said while rubbing off the sting on his forearm.

Maisie rolled her eyes. “I’ll tell him you dropped a F-bomb.”

“And I’ll tell him you slapped me.”

“He’d be on your side,” she said while texting Rowan about the olive oil. “You’re so much shorter than me—he’d say it’s not a fair fight.”

“Take it back!” He ran towards Maisie for a second, since she was on her way to get tomatoes now. “When I get taller than Uncle Lorcan, you’ll wish you were less mean to me.”

Well, that would be a problem for future Maisie. At ten years old, Finn was so short, taunting him about it was almost too easy.

“Yeah, whatever.” She tapped her brother’s shoulder and pointed at another direction. “Go get the parmesan cheese.”

Finn turned to leave, but swung back to her. “Can we have ice cream later?”

Ice cream that she would have to pay, because she couldn’t report to the parental unit about illicit ice cream before dinner, let alone request a refund.

“Fine, just—“

“Alright! I’m there!”

Ever since Maisie got her first job, her brother started acting as if she was a millionaire. Sometimes, she wondered if he believed that her salary was the same as their parents’, which would be highly inaccurate. Despite the age gap, her parents never asked Maisie to act in any way that resembled a parental role—still, she liked to treat her siblings once in a while, give their jobless selves a taste of freedom, let them see what it’s like to have ice cream before dinner just because you can.

Before she knew it, he was back with the cheese.

“Can you buy me that Kinder Easter egg?” He pointed at a cardboard display filled with them. “The one with the dinosaur.”

Maisie narrowed her eyes on Finn. “You told Mom you wanted another one.”

“Yeah, because she only let me pick one.”

Her eyebrows shot when she came closer and saw the price tag. “Hell, no. I’d rather pay for a new haircut.”

“Hey!” Finn protested, running a hand through his newly cut hair. “Mom said she likes it!”

“You look ridiculous.”

“I’m so gonna tell her you said that.”

“Do it. Deep down, she agrees with me.”

˜˜

When she arrived, the house was calmer than usual.

“You aren’t magic!” Eamon shouted to his smirking, completely unfazed sister. “You’re not!”

Maisie walked past them towards the kitchen, where her dad prepped dinner as if the twins weren’t about to rip each other’s heads off in the living room.

“Hey, Maisy Daisy,” he called without looking away from the onion he was chopping. “Did you get everything?”

She put the bags on the counter as an answer, then her dad kissed the crown of her head in thanks and promised to repay her later.

Things didn’t seem to progress at all in the living room—actually, they did, if one could count Eamon getting angrier as progress.

“You don’t fly! You don’t control fire! You don’t teleport!”

Enid giggled. “I know how, I just don’t want to.”

“NO! YOU CAN’T!”

Maisie cut in, “I mean, she could.”

That made the boy stop and narrow his eyes on her, begrudgingly hanging on to whatever she was about to say. Since she was more than twice the twins’ age and the wisest of them all, sometimes her siblings actually listened to something Maisie said.

“I mean…” she shrugged. “We don’t know where you two came from, so maybe she really does have magic.”

Enid crossed her arms. “What do you mean?”

“FINN!” Maisie shouted and waited a moment for her brother to come out of his room. “Do you remember when we found Enid and Eamon in the trash?”

“That’s a lie!” Her ever-so-cool little sister yelled, her green eyes welling up.

“Oh, yeah.” Finn said after taking a moment to process the information, acting nonchalant—if he laughed, it was game over. “That day was wild.”

Eamon stood frozen in shock, while Enid bellowed an ear-shattering cry.

“Maisie! Finn!” Rowan yelled from the kitchen. “Stop telling your siblings we found them in the trash!”

“But they need to know the truth!” Maisie shouted back, wondering if her dad heard her over Enid’s cries.

“What on Earth is going on here?” Her Mom showed up, wrapped in a towel with her hair wet.

Eamon ran to hug Aelin’s middle, his eyes teary. “Are you not my mommy?”

Maisie rolled her eyes. Mama’s boy.

“Of course I am, honey.” She frowned. “What’s going on?”

With a sigh, Dad was finally able to join the rest in the living room. “Finn and Maisie told the twins they’re adopted.”

Aelin sent them her classic Are you kidding me? mom look, as if Maisie was to blame, then proceeded to soothe the seven-year-olds.

If they fell for it, it was their fault for being stupid. There’s a picture of Dad as a kid on Grandma Rory’s hallway from when he was Eamon’s age, and they look like the same person in there.

“The only one adopted here was Fleetfoot,” Dad said.

“No, she’s not. I gave birth to her.” Mom sent him a mischievous look. “I went into labor for her.”

“Um—“ Maisie cleared her throat. “Fleetfoot’s mine.”

Dad sent Mom an apologetic smile. “She really is Maisie’s.”

“I want a dog too!” Enid cut in.

“Yeah, me too!” Finn joined.

Maisie hummed. “We could give them a country name…”

“Like Eyllwe,” Eamon said.

Rowan’s eyes widened. “No! Fleetfoot’s everyone’s,” he said, completely contradicting himself after the threat of more poop for him to clean.

˜˜

From the looks of it, dinner would be ready on time for breakfast.

To be fair, her dad was never late to finish dinner, but his desire to make this a special one and the boiling tomatoes in order to make the sauce from scratch led to this.

It was kinda cute, how Dad conjured something special out of thin air just because his wife hinted that she was feeling like it over text while they were at work.

Maisie saw a glimpse of her parents canoodling in the kitchen on her way to her bedroom, but almost ran to the toilet instead. They were so adorably disgusting, all that love made her want to throw up.

Her parents were no better than any PDA-addicted straight couple she saw at school, except that while the average high schooler couple lasted about three months, her parents have been at it for a little over a decade.

At least, a light peck was the furthest they got in front of their kids—or ever. For all Maisie knew, she and her three siblings came from artificial insemination.

A savior from her thoughts, Finn knocked on the door.

“We need to talk,” he said, looking crestfallen.

“C’mere.”

Maisie sat on the side of her bed, and tapped the free space beside her for him to sit. Instead, he sat on her lap. Weird.

She was about to ask him what was going on when a low, rumbling sound coming from him filled the air.

The little bitch had just farted on her.

Finn ran away, giggling, while Maisie screamed the most irate shriek ever known to man.

He locked himself in his bedroom, but her quickened pulse only energized her, aiding tense upper arms to pound against his door.

“I’M GONNA KILL YOU,” Maisie shouted at her hiding brother.

He’d get out sometime, and when he did, she’d be there.

On the kitchen’s threshold, Aelin peeked her head into the hallway. “What’s going on here?”

The teenager slowly turned to her mom, jaw tight, and seethed, “Why. Was. He. Born?”

With a sigh that came deep from her soul, Aelin fully stepped into the hallway. “What did your brother do now?”

Maisie pointed at her closed bedroom door. “Smell it!”

Her mom stepped in and out of the bedroom, coughing. “Gods, Finn!”

In a feeble attempt to fix the situation, Aelin opened Maisie’s bedroom’s window and sprayed some air freshener inside—one hand on the bottle, another clamping her nose. Still, the girl didn’t trust to go back into her room for the next hour or so.

Aelin knocked on Finn’s door twice to get his attention. “That was way too stinky, honey, I’m cutting off some of your junk food!”

“Come on!” he complained from the other side of the door.

Too bad Finn couldn’t see her triumphant smirk. It’d rile him up beautifully.

Two taps to her shoulder. “Dinner’s almost ready. Come help me set the table.”

“What was that?” Dad asked when Mom got back to the kitchen, focused on the stove.

“Finn farted in Maisie's room and she threatened his life.”

“Oh,” was all he said, mixing something on the tomato sauce.

She desperately needed to meet whoever taught her parents how to live this peacefully amidst chaos.

“On my room? He farted on me.” She flailed her arms, trying to explain her brother’s audacity. “He sat on my lap, his butt to my thigh, and farted.”

Aelin snorted. “I told you the kids shouldn’t spend that much time with Aedion.”

Rowan’s eyes lit up. “You did tell me some awfully similar stories from when you were younger.”

After the table was set, Mom was back to her occasional glass of wine, and all was left to do was her dad’s finishing touches to dinner.

Maisie cleared her throat. “I was thinking…”

Her dad immediately turned around and pointed a spoon at her. “If it’s about that party, don’t bother.”

“Not a party!”

“Money, then.” Aelin smirked behind her glass of wine.

The girl crossed her arms. Her mom’s grin turned smug.

Maisie groaned. “Fine! But it’s good, I promise.”

“Go on,” Rowan said.

“I want to buy Easter eggs for Finn and the twins, but I can’t afford the cool ones.”

“Aw, honey, that’s so sweet.” Her mom melted right on spot. “I’m sorry we can’t help you with that.”

Maisie’s face fell. “What.”

Even her dad seemed a little confused, though he tried to hide it.

Aelin sat straighter to explain, “You see, if we help you with this, your siblings will ask to do the same, and it wouldn’t be fair to say no to them after…”

Maisie rolled her eyes. Her parents and their “equal treatment”—

“Do not roll your eyes at your mother,” Rowan warned.

Aelin continued, “Next thing we know, we spent our entire paychecks on chocolate, Finn is farting on our faces all day, the twins will never fall asleep again from the sugar rush, and your dad will be shoving food down your throat because of some crazy diet you saw online to get rid of the Easter weight.” She raised her brow in that infuriating mom way of hers. “Did I miss something?”

“Fine!” Maisie held both arms up in surrender. “You want me to buy your kids lame chocolate, is that it?”

“If they can’t appreciate whatever you can afford, I’m not raising them right.”

“Ugh!” Maisie groaned, and sat facing away from her mother.

A moment later, Dad sent her off to tell her siblings dinner was ready, and soon everyone was at the table, ready to attack the food that took ages to be ready.

Except that, when she asked for the parmesan cheese, Enid took it and kept waving it in front of her instead of just passing it over.

After seven years of Enid, Maisie was unimpressed. “Are you trying to tease me?”

The little girl giggled. “No, you can have it, but I want to see your eyes light up first!”

With a sigh, Rowan took it from Enid’s hand and passed it over to Maisie. “Can we just try to be rational for once?”

“I was rational once,” Eamon said, frowning.

With his mouth full, Finn said, “I want the next special dinner to be at one of those fancy pasta places with two forks.”

“Manners,” Aelin warned the wild beast she called a son.

“Mom and Dad never take us to fancy restaurants for a reason,” Maisie said while giving a pointed look to Finn, who was by her side.

The boy rolled his eyes and mimicked in a high-pitched voice, “MoM aND dAD nEVer tAkE uS tO fANcY rEStAuRaNts FoR a rEasOn.”

Maisie slapped her brother’s forearm, and that’s when her parents lost patience.

Rowan lifted his pointed finger, “Do not—“

“Maisie, Finn, for Mala’s sake…” Aelin started, pinching the bridge of her nose.

˜˜

Later that night, Maisie was scrolling on TikTok before sleep, but two knocks on her bedroom door stopped her short.

It was Finn, holding his blanket. More often than not, he slept in Maisie’s room—she wasn’t sure why, but it’d been this way since he was little. Already knowing what was about to happen, Fleetfoot moved to the foot of the bed to give him space. Her bed might look big, but it didn’t have nearly enough space for two people and a person-sized dog.

When she was taking off her many pillows to find some space for her brother, a bulky-looking folded paper caught her eye.

Maisie hid it back with the pillow and said, “Go get me some water.”

Finn complained, but complied.

Quickly unfolding the paper in the little time she had, Maisie recognized her dad’s writing and a fuckton of cash—not too much for an Air Force major, but enough to make a teenager who had a minimum-wage part-time job feel like a billionaire.

Groceries refund + your delivery fee

Don’t mention it—ever

Maisie’s grin grew wicked. She fucking loved her dad.

˜˜

Finding a reason to get out of the house on Easter was tough, but she managed it.

Maisie had already picked her dad’s sushi-filled Easter egg at the restaurant, since he hated chocolate, and the other ones had been retrieved from its hiding place at Uncle Aedion’s.

Inside her house, Finn was the first one to greet her.

He eyed her bags suspiciously. “What’s all that?”

Without a word, she took one Kinder egg that fit in her palm, and handed it to him. Finn took it in his hand, contemplated it for a second with a silly half-smile, then hugged Maisie tight, squeezing her waist.

“Gods!” She lightly slapped his head. “You’re so dumb.”

Before he processed what happened, Maisie got his actual Easter egg, the Kinder with the dinosaur he wanted.

His eyes lit up and his mouth hung open, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Then, her brother crushed her into a hug that knocked her breath out of her lungs.

“Thanks, Mais.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She took a second to take it in, than wiggled out of his hug to hand the twins’ ones.

They looked so happy, it didn’t even look like Mom and Dad gave each of them giant Easter eggs three hours ago.

Her parents were watching them from afar, wearing one of those weird, sentimental parent smiles.

When she took out her dad’s from the bag, Rowan finally looked surprised—which was easily detected by his wife.

The “shell” part of his Easter egg was just nori and rice, but it was filled with seafood. Dad twirled his sushi egg in his hands, mouth ajar. “Honey, I didn’t think you’d get me something too. You didn’t have to.”

“Too?” Mom asked, lips quirked up. Her eyes sparkled, darted between Maisie and Rowan, then landed on her daughter. “Good to know you found a way to afford it.”

“I’m my father’s daughter.” Maisie shrugged. “Of course I know how to save money.”

She also knew how to spend it like her mother, but it wouldn’t be smart to mention right now.

At that point, Maisie knew Aelin figured out that Rowan gave her the money, and Mom knew Maisie knew she knew. Neither of them would say a word, though, and it was best this way.

She handed her mom’s next, a chocolate hazelnut Easter egg the size of Aelin’s head.

“I didn’t know Dad bought you the same one,” Maisie said with a sheepish smile.

“You won’t hear me complaining, honey.” Her mom kept intense eye contact with her Easter egg, likely unwrapping it in her mind as if she didn’t have a half-eaten identical one in her bedroom.

Aelin put her gift on the coffee table near them and hugged Maisie. “I love you, honey,” she said before kissing her daughter’s head. “Thank you for the gift. You’re such a great big sister.”

“I know, right?”

However, their hug was abruptly broken by shouting coming from the other side of the living room.

“Stop. Being. An idiot!” Enid shouted at Eamon for whatever reason they decided to bicker over this afternoon.

“We’re both idiots, but you’re the bigger idiot!” he fought back.

Maisie tapped her mom’s shoulders. “Go tame your evil twins.”

“Don’t call your siblings that!”

She sighed, not surprised by how quickly their moment of peace—a rarity in her home—was broken.

Weirdly enough, her parents seemed to enjoy it.

A/N: In the plans of this outtake I have deep into my notes app, Aelin mentions that since her husband doesn’t like chocolate, her Easter gift to him would be given “later tonight”. I thought you’d like to know *wink*

2nd A/N: Yes I left Maisie’s exact age in the dark on purpose heheheh this one spoiler I’m not handing out like this.

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[jamdoughnutmagician]

A Cut Above The Rest

Mechanic!Eddie x Fem!Hairdresser!Reader

Back To Work (Part 6)

Summary:You make good on your promise of giving Steve his haircut, whilst also learning a few things from him about Eddie.

Word Count:1, 131 (sorry it's a short one this time!)

<-Previous Part Next Part ->

Masterlist Series Masterlist

You drive your way over to Steve’s home, a modest little place, an apartment on the edge of the town not from where he works in the coffee shop.

You knock at his door with your hairdresser’s kit in a bag slung over your shoulder.

“Steve! It’s me!” you shout from behind the door. 

He opens up the door, dressed in an old, well-worn t-shirt and a pair of shorter than you expected shorts. So this is what Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington wears on his day off, huh?

“Hey! How are you?” he says, welcoming you into his apartment.

“Good thanks.” you nod. “So where do you want to do this? '' you ask, gesturing to your heavy bag of haidresser’s equipment.

“Oh you can put your stuff right here, it’ll be fine.” he says, tapping his hand against the small dining table in his kitchen.

You set down your bag as he pulls out a chair from underneath the table and sits down.

“So what are we doing today, Steve?” you ask, as you swish a hair-dressing cape around his shoulders to stop the hair going all over his clothes.

“Anything you can do that doesn’t involve any kind of clippers going anywhere near my head would be deeply appreciated, thank you.”

“Don’t worry you’re in safe hands with me.” you reassure, as you rake your fingers through his tousled mess of hair. “You’re going to feel like a new man once I’m done with you, Harrington.”

You grab your water bottle and begin by spritzing his hair just enough to wet everything down, before turning to grab your comb to slick through his hair. Then you reach into your kit to pull out your scissors to start snipping away at the longer strands. You alternate between snipping the hair and combing your brush through to ensure that everything is the right length.

“I drove past a perfectly good barber’s shop on my way here, so what’s this hang-up you have over hair clippers and going to the barbers?” You ask, easily falling into the natural chatter that you used on all your clients. It was one of the skills you prided yourself on, to put people at ease 

“Well, it’s just that when I was a kid my mom would always take me to the salon with her when she went, and I would get my hair cut there too sometimes. Then, one day, my dad took me to a barber shop, said it was about time that a boy like me should be going to the same barber’s as his old man, said that my long hair made me look like a girl, then they clipped my hair so short. I cried the whole time.” he says, the hurt in voice still present even now. "I even have a little scar at the back where the guy got a bit too trigger-happy with the clippers." He huffs.

Sure enough through the layers, there it is. A small line of scarring where the base of his skull flows down to his neck, where the hair refuses to grow.

"I guess I wanted to grow my hair out as an act of rebellion?" He offers, as some semblance of explanation. 

“For what it’s worth, I think you suit longer hair in my opinion. I’m just here to tidy you up.” you reassure with a hand on his shoulder.

“Thanks. Anyway! Enough about me, a little birdy told me that you went on a date with a certain metal-head yesterday?” he asks, his voice raising slightly in a teasing tone. 

“A little birdy, huh? You mean Robin.” you poke back with a laugh. “Yeah, Eddie took me out to the Maple Bridge fall festival. It was nice.” you answer, with a slight smile playing at your lips as you begin to refine Steve’s layers.

 “Maple Bridge, huh?” he retorts with a smirk that despite the fact that you couldn’t see his face, you just knew was gracing his features. “Interesting.”

“Yeah, we picked pumpkins and had a quiet drink in the barn. I had a nice time with him. Why is that interesting?” you say, unsure what Steve was getting at with his line of questioning.

“I’ve known Eddie for a few years, and if it’s one thing I know about him is that he loves the fall, like, all of it. Halloween, Pumpkins, Pumpkin Pie, everything. The whole shebang. He goes to the Maple Bridge festival every year. Never misses it.

Steve keeps talking as you start to ruffle a texturising clay through his now freshly cut hair, listening intently as he speaks.  

“..And for the past few years he’s always gone alone. We’ve all offered to go with him, of course, but he always insists on going by himself. So, he must really like you if he’s taken you there on a first date.”

“I don’t know what to say.” you stammer at the revelation of this news. 

“Look, I’m hosting a Halloween party next week. Robin's gonna be there, you can invite Eddie, it’ll be great, I promise.”

“Alright. I’m down for a party.” you say, as you reach for your hairdryer.

“Good. Of course it’s a costume party, so I expect to see you all dressed up.” he laughs.

You cut Steve off with the loud sound of your hairdryer, completely ignoring him.

“Alright! That’s you all done.” You say as you gather your kit up.

“Thank you so much, you’ve done an awesome job of it. Better than any other haircut I've had before, that's for sure." he says with a smile ruffling his fingers through his freshly styled hair. “This is for you.” he nods, pressing the money into your hand.

"Oh thank you!" You smile, slipping your money into your back pocket.

"Seriously! I'm going to be coming to you for my haircuts from now on!" Steve praises.

"Anytime! It was a delight to work on such a glorious head of hair such as yours" You nod.

"I really do hope you come to the party, it'll be nice to have some more friendly faces there!"

"I'll see you then!" And with that, you wave him goodbye as you make your way out of his apartment. 

You burst through the door to Robin’s apartment, dropping your bag on the floor as you come in.

"Robin. I need your help." you rush out in a panicked tone.

"What’s going on?” she spluttered back, matching your alarmed nature.

"Steve invited me to his Halloween party next week and I need to find a costume."

Robin breathes a sigh of relief, you always did have a flair for the dramatics.

"Don't worry, we'll find you something, We can hit up the mall tomorrow, there's gotta be something there."

@penguinsandpotterheads @xxhellfiregirlxx @sunflowerdaydreamer @mmunson86 @avalon-wolf @ali-r3n @jesssssmaybankk

[freshlyrage]

Running Like Water

Chapter 26

pairing: Javier Peña x OFC (written as xReader)

fic warnings: NSFW Explicit Smut (18+ MDNI) language, strained family relationships, mentions of drug abuse, discussions of insecurities and body image issues, daddy and mommy issues

fic tags: Best friends younger sister, Life-long crush, Friends to lovers, Unrequited love, slow burn, Push and Pull, Small Town Dynamics, Secret Relationships, latina MC, Fluff and Angst, OFC!Jessica Alba face claim, sorry Lorraine I'm bringing you into this, Time jumps, 2 year age gap, pre-canon

word count: 4.1k

IMPORTANT a/n: Hi... I said that if the Celtics won I'd post tonight so ya know! Here it is hehe. LETS GO CELTICS

Finally used the scene in Season 1 episode 5 of Narcos of Javi and Murphy in the car. There's a lot of perspective change in this one, this section will be like this most the time just because are characters are so far apart!

Ok bye enjoy

New Orleans 1988

“Do you remember being sixteen?”

You cackle, playing with the golden bee at your lobe, looking up at your student Chiron. He had been eating his lunch in your classroom for about two months since, the cafeterias ac is shit, his words. You dig into the cake your students bought you, they thought you would cancel their monday practice quiz with a little birthday celebration. They were greatly mistaken. 

Today you're twenty-four. Everytime you think of it your brain freezes.

 You remember being sixteen like it’s yesterday. You nod, washing down the store bought dry red velvety mess with water. “Yes. It sucked.”

Chiron laughs just the same, opening the pink milk box on his tray. “When were you sixteen? In 1950?”

You stare at him with your most deadpan look, shaking your head. “I turned sixteen in 1980. I was living in Laredo, Texas and I spent my birthday alone. I received flowers from my… friend and my mom took me dress shopping two days later. What was yours like?” 

You and Chiron talk every day. You know he lives in a group home, you know he gets excited when he gets asked about his own life and even more excited when someone shares stories about theirs. He reminds you everyday that you want to have a son one day, you guess you’ll tell him when he's older. Hopefully then you could introduce your son to him and have a laugh about it. 

Teaching has given you a purpose. Being away from home has given you a purpose. Knowing no one has given you a purpose. You tell him stories all the time, you’re going to sob when he walks across that stage in May. 

“I went to the arcade with Teresa.” Teresa has been his girlfriend since the ninth grade, she went to St. Mary’s. They met doing community service and Chiron knows that they're going to be married. “She bought me this chain with her paycheck from Rouses. Are you doing anything for your birthday?”

You look at the picture of your little sister and niece sat up on her desk. Little three year old Sol holding Frankies babygirl Annie. “I still don’t know anyone out here but my coworkers so I’ll probably order in, watch Dirty Dancing and wait for a call from my brother.” You think of Javier for a moment, wondering if he knows today's your birthday. 

You wonder if you have crossed his mind. 

You saw him in the paper when you went home for christmas, you didn't visit your mother. 

You went home to simply spoil the babies at Frankie's house. You drove right back to your third floor apartment in Nola. Cried into your pillow until you slept and did it all over again for three more nights. Chiron nods, you have told him small stories about your life because he loves to listen. You’re weary of sharing too much, only offering bits you know will make him feel seen. You let him cry when he said he tried to meet his father during Christmas break and he didn’t show. That's when you decided to tell him about your first trip to New Orleans. 

Chiron frowns and sips his milk. He just got a haircut, flat top style, he had been growing his hair out the whole year for it. “Do you think Javier will call you?”

You smile at Chiron. He had been trying to pry information about your former lover for weeks. It all started after Christmas break when he cried about his father. You told him that family can be found anywhere, that your only family for a bit was your best friend who happened to be your boyfriend. 

“Do you live with Javier now?”

You shook your head, “He moved away for work.” Nearly a lie, you didn’t feel it was appropriate to tell your seventeen year old student the painful details of your life. 

Chiron went quiet for a few seconds, his face going inward. Eyes shy and sad, it happens every time he’s asked about his parents.

“So who is your family now?”

Andrea drops her keys on her kitchen counter being greeted by tiny tweets. She grins from ear to ear, placing her purse down on the couch. Walking to her cage, the two birds chirped.

 “Are you singing Happy Birthday to me?” She gets on her tiptoes, offering her fingers to the babies, they take the chance. “Thank you, mommy’s going to watch Dirty Dancing because she’s lonely. Okay?”

She brings Jewel to her face in a phantom kiss while Harvey finds sanctuary on her shoulder. 

She always wanted pets but her mother never allowed it. The second Andrea put down her deposit for her apartment, she hopped in her car and bought two blue budgies. They nipped and scurried away from her each time she approached them but after two months of persistence they finally warmed up to her. They’re now her best friends. She’s become a crazy bird lady. Just in September she left a date abruptly because she realized she hadn't fed them in a day and a half. Its safe to say she didn’t get a call back from Mr. Henning.

She sits on her couch after loading the VHS and yawning. Her birdies flying back to their cage. 

That was the summer of 1963 - when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind.

At 6pm she receives a call. Her heart sinks and for a moment she thinks, maybe.

But ultimately she knows not to be so silly, she knows she needs to be angry with him but she doesn’t have it in her anymore. She unravels herself from the nest she’s made on her couch and tip toes on the hardwood floor to her home phone. 

She spoke to Genie this morning, receiving a happy birthday song from her brother and their baby’s incoherent babbles. They say little Annie is upset that Tia Andrea lives so far. 

“Hello?” Andrea shushes her birds, they love to chirp when she’s on the phone. 

“Happy Birthday Andrea,”

 And she knows Don Chuchos voice anywhere. 

Andrea closes her eyes at the sound. She knew she couldn’t avoid him forever and she’s riddled with grief at the sound of his voice after nearly two years. 

“Thank you Chucho.” Andrea remembers the way he looked at her when she sat in the blistering heat on Javier’s wedding day. He looked at her knowingly, he could see that beyond the made up face she was on the brink of a breakdown. “How’s everything back home?” 

“You would know if you stopped by to see me last month.”

She winces. When Andrea came home for Christmas she made it her business to be seen by no one. Especially anyone who knew anything about Javi. 

She was finally feeling better. 

Everything was out in the open now, everyone knew their business. The scandal blew through town, she had to leave.

“I know, I'm sorry. I’m just still working through everything that happened. I knew if I stopped by your house it would bring up old memories.” Since Andrea moved to New Orleans she has gone back to Laredo five times. Two of the times she visited her mother, every other time was a straight shot to Frankie’s home. Calling him to make sure he takes Sol for the day so Andrea could see her too. She would spend two lovely nights on their plush couch and drive home the next day. 

Through the crackle of the receiver Chucho hums in understanding. 

In a twisted way Andrea always wanted him to be her father. She loved the idea of marrying Javier for more reasons than one. She wanted to officially be a part of his tiny family she loved so deeply. 

“Would this be a bad time to talk about him?” 

Andrea, the despondent girl. A girl alone, leaning against her lonely walls, a girl belonging to no one. Is a girl who cannot resist hearing about the one she loved. 

Loves. 

“Yes.” She allows it. He complies because she knows he must have no one to talk to about this. 

“He told me last week that he’s seeing a specialist—therapist, once a week.”

She smiles. She remembers the last time they had sex they talked about reaching out for help. She supposes it’s her turn. 

“That’s- I'm relieved to hear that. Is he doing okay out there?” 

Andrea has a reoccurring nightmare. She’s walking to work, the heat is brutal and her hands are full of groceries. In her nightmare, one of the bags rip open, fruit falling on the concrete. Every time, she follows an apple that rolls until it hits a news stand. And there—there she sees his face. There she reads his public obituary, the slain American agent. There she dissolves to nothing and wakes up crying harder than she ever has. She cried until she felt like dissolving into nothing. 

“He spares me details that would send me into a stroke but you know. It’s very dangerous work but he’ll make it back home in one piece. He’s too stubborn to die young.” 

Her eyes flicker to the ground and her chin quivers at his words. “Do you miss him?” Is all she can mutter. She cannot be alone in this feeling. She doesn’t like to feel this way. She liked to believe that she gets along without him well, but sometimes the wind blows and it reminds her of summer nights in his bed and she isn’t sure she could go on lying to herself.

Chucho sighs, “He misses you.” He doesn’t answer your question. He knows what you wanted to ask. “He doesn’t tell me because he’s afraid, but every conversation I can hear it in his voice. He is still grieving being away from you, still grieving being deceived. I know you are too. But I wanted to call to tell you that he is okay. I want you to be okay too, Andrea.”

January 1988 Bogota, Colombia

There isn't much work being done. Scoping out for a sicario in a hundred degree weather wasn't ideal but it left some time for beers and ramblings. Murphy dug his hand into the cup holder for another sip of Club Colombiano. “So what year was this?” Murphy looks over to Javi. It had been almost a week since he last saw Hertz. His next session is in two days. He found himself walking with less weight. He even finally told Murphy the name of the girl whose picture is taped on the corner of his desk.

“1986” Javier rasps. “I was driving to the church. I was with my buddy Frankie. He was my best man.” He nearly whispers the last bit. “We were late. It was fucking blazing, 110 degrees. The whole bridal party was there sweating their balls off I’m sure. Frankie is shaking like a leaf next to me, like he’s fucking getting married. Looking for a lighter for a joint he rolled. Mind you, we're been in my bride's car since she arrived in a limousine.”

“Don’t tell me you left her at the altar.”

Javier deadpans, “Let me finish my story.” Murphy chuckles, pressing the cold beer to his neck. “He opens the glove compartment and some papers fall into his lap. And boom, we hit a traffic jam. Frankie, my best man, being the nosy fuck he his opens up the papers. He goes, three months pregnant as of June 6th, can't believe we’re both having kids. I swear to god–”

“No!” Murphy gasps.

“Yeah, Lorraine, the bride, and I hadn’t had sex since February of that year. She was showing a lot, I never thought twice when she told me she was five months along.” Murphy is staring at him like this was the juiciest television worthy story ever told. Javier looks blankly into the rolling hills of Colombia wondering why this happened to him. “I had dropped everything in my life to rush into a loveless marriage for the convenience of a family that wasn't even mine.” His eyes cast low and he feels sick. “So I turned the car around. And Andrea was there waiting to watch me marry someone else. In the heat.”

Murphy rarely knew who Andrea was other than the pretty ex-girlfriend whose picture is taped on his desk; he didn’t tell him too much. The story is enticing, he supposes. Exhilarating from the outside.

Murphy grins, “Well, you saved her a lifetime of hell.” 

He knows it’s true, his inner monologue being spat right back in his face yet he can’t seem to swallow that reality. He's a weak man, he hoped that Murphy would tell him he was wrong, that he needed to get up on a plane this instant and find his girl.

He’s silent for a moment. “Yeah, she never spoke to me again, Andrea I mean. She’ll probably be married to a-a stock broker or some shit when I come home.” If I come home, he intends to say but decides maybe this wasn’t the moment. “Trust me, she’s better off.”

“I told my partner, Steve Murphy, about the wedding.”

“That's amazing, Javier.” She sits back down in her brown leather chair, sipping her tea from her small yellow thermo. “How did you feel afterward?” Javier went home to drink himself to sleep. He decides to keep that detail to himself, before reaching forward to sip water instead of fulfilling his urge to light up.

“I felt like I’ve taken some sort of step forward. Then I remembered how it was telling Andrea. Then I felt like I regressed once again, I didn't wake up for work the next morning. This Tuesday I mean.” She’s taking it all in, yet something i n her twinkles. He sees her satisfaction, she knows this is a shy way of telling her he’s ready to talk about it again. Things are changing for him so quickly.

“We were cut for time last week.”

“We were.”

“So,”

“So.” Javier's eyes jet to the plush rug below him. “I walked to her house the night I agreed to marry Lorraine.”

June 18th 1986

He stopped by The Tap before strolling his way into your neighborhood. Sitting on a barstool like he would do back in High School, eyes peeled to the door wondering if his mother would miraculously walk in. This time he doesn’t drink so much, he pushes three beers back and feels sad enough to see you. Sad enough to break your heart. Liquid courage? Is that what they call it? He feels a buzz in his spine.

Somehow he ends up at your door. 

 “Javi, are you alright? It's late.” You whisper, closing the front door behind you. It reminds him of the time he walked to your house after getting wasted. Catching you in Cabaret makeup, you turning bright red under white paint. 

This time you’re bare faced and so much more of a woman. Javier studies you in a buzzed haze, you’re concerned and it’s pissing him off. There you are, barefoot on your porch. Caught off guard and still the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. You step down one step. He wants to drop to his knees and apologize. 

You sense his sorrow so you step back up to be near to his height, placing your hands on his face. Holding his face, “Baby, are you okay?” He knows your worried little face, he knows that somehow in that brain of yours—you’re conspiring what you could have done wrong. Yet it’s never you, it’s always him. You’ve never done wrong.

“Hey…” You whisper, attempting to soothe his quivering chin with a kiss. 

He looks away. Looking into your eyes will kill him. Rejecting your kiss all together. “I’m sorry.” Javier’s voice breaks, and he isn’t embarrassed but he wants to die. He wants it to end because he feels your body go cold without even having to look at you. He’s crying and hiding his face, holding you close and hard. Sobbing into your chest, staining your gray shirt like you did his when he left the first time. “I’m so sorry—I knew I wouldn’t be right for you—Querida, I’m sorry.”

----

He crushes your body with his. He’s muttering words about a wedding, a pregnancy and you’re being crushed. You’re losing air and you hope he squeezes you tighter, hope your eyes fog and you fall. 

Hope to wake up in a cold sweat, and it's all a bad dream. Hope to call him to hang out at the lake.  

He’s crying, and its the worst sound you’ve ever heard. Saying he didn’t mean to become a father. He doesn’t mean to hurt you. He doesn’t know why he hurts you. He says he doesn’t want to be married to her. Calling you sweet names and cursing his own. 

You tell him over and over that it’s okay. Yet you hope he crushes you until you disappear.

 “It’s okay—Javi please, it’s okay— I understand.” You run a hand through his hair and lower your bodies to sit on the steps. It’s 2 am. He’s drunk and unable to give you details without crying in your lap now but you know all that you need to know.

When you saw her—Lorraine. When you saw her wide nose and round little belly you felt fear running through your veins. And you slept with that panic, you dismissed it but your bones felt it. Your intuition told you that the two of you will never be the same. You saw him stare at her belly for a second too long and there—right there— you knew you were in the way of something. 

Eventually he feels okay enough to sit up straight. He still can’t look at you and you miss him in your lap when he does. You miss being able to hide yourself from him. You miss being able to shut your eyes in agony at each word of consolation. Now he can see you, even if he doesn’t look you in the eye he can see you. 

You’re able to understand that she’s five months, that they gave him a choice. To never see her and his child, child— his child— or get married. Through it all you tell him it’s okay. 

“I don’t think I have another choice— I can’t be.-“

“A deadbeat.” You finish for him and he doesn’t respond. The two of you have a million unspoken words between the two of you. 

Look at me, look at what happens when you abandon your child. Look what girls like me put up with. Look at me, you hurt me and I'm still thinking of ways to make it work in my broken little brain. 

He knows what his mother did, how could he ever? How? So you could never find it in you to be angry. 

“I’m sorry— I just can’t.” 

You shut your eyes and lean back into the steps of your home. The sky was bright that night, you couldn’t understand why the universe still presented its beauty during such a moment. 

“When will you get married?” You suppose maybe you like to hurt yourself. 

“They said two weeks.” 

You drop your head into your hands and let out a sob. Heart slamming against your ribs, drowning in it. You fear that you’ll become one with earth, a puddle seeping into the grass ahead of you. You feel his panic next to you. He’s whispering your name, and tearing against the back of your head. Your shoulders wrack and you try to speak.

But you decide silence is all you can handle.

So you stay like this for a few minutes.

“Will you sleep with me tonight?” You ask finally, pathetically. 

And he’s quick to nod, “Yes—please.” His deep voice sends a vibration down your spine. And the two of you walk into your home, without fear—no room for such a silly feeling. 

He undresses and you do too. 

He faces the ceiling and you fear neither of you will catch any hours tonight. You still curl into his chest, for the last time. Feeling his warm tan skin below your ear. You count his heartbeats for minutes at a time. You count your own, attempting to make it stop on your own. Your stomach hurts so badly, you may cry just from that. But you think that you’re a twenty two year old woman who is somehow all cried out. You think of the sun coming up and him getting up to leave, you wonder what the next two weeks will look like. 

You’re sure that if you could you’d stay just like this, together and avoidant until it’s time. Just like you planned a week ago when your only fear was him leaving to Colombia. 

You know he’d do the same because the two of you love pain like no other. You stay in your inferno of a brain for nearly an hour. You know he can’t sleep. 

“What are we going to do?” He asks and you frown. 

“Go our separate ways.”

“I don’t want to.” He’s quick to respond, angry.

“I know.”

“Do you want to?”

“No. But I have to. You have to.” 

“As long as I know you, I'll want you, Andrea.”

You shut your eyes and breathe. You hope he forgets you. You hope you can. You suppose you have to try. 

“After the wedding, I don’t think I’ll ever want to speak to you again.”

You feel him intake a shaky breath. Your heart breaks again. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

His chest rises, “It’s okay. I understand.” You nod, the post of the earrings he bought you scraping his skin. “We probably shouldn’t see each other after today.” He admits and you know he’s right.

“Yeah.”

“Do you think I could be a bridesmaid?” You attempt to joke and he doesn’t laugh. You can’t tell what he does but he shivers. 

“Not funny.” 

“I’m sorry.” You exhale. And there the two of you are pensive. Already missing each other. 

He sighs and it's silent once more. “I really love you.”

You sigh just the same and you love him more. You decide you couldn’t say it out loud this time.

Colombia 1988

His elbow is rested on the arm of the chair and his mouth is pressed to a fist. Eyes closed for a few moments. He thinks of the silence of that night, how he hasn't heard you say I love you since. The words that kept him going, but fuck it, he didn’t feel like he deserved it. He made their life such a mess, over and over again. Again his brain regresses to that of a child, of his own head when he was eleven, when he tore up his mothers room and stained her poetry with his tears. 

He has spent two years suffering, he knows there will be no winning. He lost you. He came here prematurely hoping to win in some way. To bring some good, save some people but he realized there's no winning here either. Just suffering and corruption. The longer he watches people die he swears his faith chips slowly with it.

So he looks over his shoulder once or twice when he leaves his session. There were very few words spoken by Dr. Hertz but what can you do when his story silences so many?

He wishes it could silence his own thoughts but instead it festers and crowds his brain in the most crucial moments. Like when he led a raid in a bar in Medellin and swore the woman who sat at the bar with a gun to her head was you. In genuine panic he freezes, the casualties raised from 24 to 25 at that moment. All because of you—him—all because of his thoughts of you, plaguing him.

And he thinks of you in the most insignificant moments. Insignificant like burying himself deep in the cunt of a woman who’s being paid. He thinks of you and can't keep it up from the guilt. What a curse it is to feel so deeply about someone. 

He remembers once, you lie beside him half asleep and mumbling like you did after sex. You said that sometimes love scares you so much that for a time you wished to never feel it. He thought of you so crazy, he fears he understands you now. 

[fabuloustrash05]

Hello I love the intergalactic sisters Au please tell me more! I like imagining young April and Mona growing up together 🥺

Omg! Thank you! My Salamandrian April AU or Intergalactic Sisters (I’m still deciding on the title) is one of my personal favorite AUs of mine because I love the randomness of it all with the concept. I also see this as a fun way for me to explore the dynamic of April and Mona Lisa because I love these girls and I think they would’ve been best friends in the show if the writers weren’t cowards!

So for those who need context, in the AU April was captured by The Kraang when she was around 6 years old. In the season 3 episode Buried Secrets, April’s “mom” explains that when April was a little girl the Kraang attacked and wanted to take April away. Kirby and April were able to get away and leave the farmhouse, while April’s mom was captured instead.

So my idea came from: what if the Kraang got what they came for and took April away from her parents?

Apology in advance but I’m about to share a lot about this AU!

So after being kidnapped, April is held in a Kraang Prison, experimented on, unleashing, her hidden psychic powers much earlier on in her life. Eventually a Salamandrian fleet led by Sal Commander break into the Kraang prison on a hunt looking for the wanted rogue, Newtralizer, but instead Sal finds April. He breaks her out of the prison and brings her back to his home planet. He doesn’t know why the Kraang had her or why they wanted her, but his gut feeling told him it wasn’t for good intentions. Sal also did not want to take the risk of the Kraang finding her again, so he decided not to bring her back to her home planet of Earth knowing that is where they’ll be looking for her, so he lets her grow up on Salamandria.

This is how April eventually meets Mona Lisa. Mona has already been training under Sal for the past year (tying into my headcanon that Mona was placed under the care of Sal after her parents were killed in battle), so she is surprised when Sal returns from a mission bringing with him a strange looking creature with red hair. Mona and April quickly bond though because they both share a similar situation of losing their parents. Together, Sal trains are the two young girls and they become like a little family. April and Mona become the best of friends growing up together and even going as far as to call each other sisters. Also April calls Mona “Iggy”, she doesn’t refer to them as a Mona Lisa and Sal Commander because those are nicknames that the turtles give them so she refers to them by their salamandrian names only.

Growing up April was often picked on by the other Salamandrian children, because she was, well, different, but Mona always had her back, beating up anyone who tried to be mean to April. Mona is even the one that gives April brand new haircut of military pixie cut style. growing up together April with tell Mona about her planet, at least all the stuff she knew about for the only six years she lived on earth, but Mona always finds her story fascinating and the girls hope that one day April could return to her home planet and reunite with her parents, with Mona wanting to come along to her world, but at the same time April fears that she’s been gone for so long that her parents have forgotten about her.

The years go by and a two girl become skilled warriors for the Salamandrian army and Sal’s top recruits. With a Salamandrians advanced technology they were also able to help April figure out her powers and control them a lot more better so by the time she is 16 she has better control over her powers and Kraang abilities, but is still learning. Mona helps her out a lot with her powers, those kids, they used her psychic abilities to mess around with people, but as they grow older, they started to become more slightly responsible with it. but that doesn’t mean that these two girls still don’t have a devious side to them from time to time ;)

April is very open and trusting when she’s around Mona and often likes hanging on top of her or chilling on her shoulders when bored as Mona effortlessly carries her around. When it comes to actual missions, she’s serious, a little blood thirsty and quite stubborn. Because of April’s stubbornness, Mona has to be more of the level headed one, which can be a challenge for her since she can be short tempered. April is the more chaotic, one of the two surprisingly. April is also very protective of Mona, despite Mona being bigger and older than her (by a year), April has a mind said that she has already lost one family and she doesn’t wanna lose another with Mona and Sal.

So you can imagine April’s over protective nature coming out in full swing when Raphael enters Mona’s life XD

April, to Sal: Oh yes, mm hm, I’d be happy if Iggy ended up with any guy.

Mona Lisa: *walks in holding Raph’s hand*

April:

[deusexmachinawitch]

3DOLC + ROE + 12 hr Movement Challenge (Birthday Edition!) - Results!!

Yesterday I finished my challenge because it was actually my birthday. So here are the results!

❥ Purple things of my favorite purple characters! (Kuromi, Gengar...)

I haven't receive anything yet, the problem of my birthday being on a Tuesday is that most of my friends couldn't hang out. Still, my Mom told me she was getting me a Kuromi silk pajama and I'm getting several Gengar things soon apparently. My best friend is really bad at hiding secrets.

❥ A Kinder Bueno birthday cake! and pizza, especially fancy true Italian one, heck I want a feast for my birthday!

I didn't get a Kinder Bueno birthday cake, but I got a HUGE black forest birthday cake decorated with the acrylic stand of one of my favorite Vtubers. Didn't get pizza yesterday but I did get fancy sushi. Still, I'm getting FOUR other birthday celebrations besides the one yesterday and one of them include pizza. I did get a feast though, I will explain down below.

❥ Any gift from any of my favorite fandoms (which is difficult)

Same as above, because most of my friends couldn't hang out, I won't receive most of my birthday gifts til the weekend or even further since apparently some of my gifts are imported.

❥ New Joy-cons

I will have them next week but one of my friends actually did gift me Gengar joycons, but I won't receive them until I see them. They told me that they got them for me just in case I was getting them.

❥ Spending my birthday with my favorite friends

This was the most unexpected parts. One, like I mentioned above, my friends organized several birthday celebrations for me according to their schedules. Two, actually I had a surprise birthday party at one of the branches of my job where they closed up a whole arcade just to celebrate my birthday. There was a huge black forest gateau cake, lots of food and people could play games while also chat. It was a really nice birthday but it was really unexpected and I admit I was really tired to enjoy it as the party progressed lol.

❥ Free beauty treatments

Got a haircut and a beauty treatment for free. I also got a masterclass for skincare with rice and wow, my skin is glowing!

❥ SP (lol, come on baby, be my gift)

This has to be the one of the things that didn't happen for some reason, didn't even get a greeting. It is a bit discouraging and I admit I got a bit upset for a moment, but it's fine. At least this makes me not focus on him but at the same time, it opened a huge can of worms among the people that know him and I have to clear the air a little. Not giving up, a bit heartbroken tho. I guess I can use this as the thing I choose for @starbursts777's challenge tho!

Still, like I mentioned before, I manifested my brother apologizing to me after 3 years of "no contact" on my part. Which this should show me that I am powerful.

❥ Improvement on my desired appearance (Birthday glow up!)

My reverse aging and weight loss is doing well! Plus, my skin is so snow white, I barely have any blemishes and my dark circles are fading! In fact, my eyes look so big and amazing, I look like a doll!

❥ Money, why not?

Just got a little money, but hey, didn't specify an amount!

❥ A trip somewhere???

Most shocking result as well but I got invited to go to Paris with all costs covered. I just don't know IF I CAN ACCEPT YET because it's in a fixed date so I have to discuss this with work for days off.

BUT HEY! I got the trip!

I got everything I wanted except the SP part, I think that I will give it a try and use this as the topic for the "7 Days Miracle Maker Challenge" that my friend @starbursts777 is hosting.

I'll rest a little from yesterday's party and then do my post for the challenge plus write down everything.

Thank you so much for looking forward to the results!

[compassionatereminders]

Ok, so I go to the same school as my now ex friend. We met in elementary school and he was just really weird and controlling. Also crossed a few boundaries with me physically, it wasn’t sexual but I still consider it assault or at least somewhat adjacent to it. Also, frankly? I just don’t like the bitch. So after many years of this very toxic friendship and shortly after the incident, maybe three or so years ago, I cut him off completely. Just stopped talking to him. We live in the same neighborhood and his mom is a hairdresser so I do occasionally go over to their house when he’s not there to get haircuts. I don’t have any classes with him and I’m trying to take classes at a community college over the summer so I can graduate early and reduce my chances of having to take a class with him. We do see each other in the halls occasionally and I just ignore him.

HOWEVER.

All of the English teachers in my grade had their classes do slam poetry. We had to write a poem and…I guess perform it in front of the class. I wrote mine about my weird cat, nobody reacted at all when I recited it a couple weeks ago but I was just thankful my social anxiety and I didn’t fuck it up. Then, last week, my teacher told me that I was going to represent my entire English class in the poetry slam on the 5th. So that’s very terrifying but great. Yesterday he announced this to the class and talked about some of the guest judges, one of whom I dislike because she’s been lowkey ableist in the past but whatever. The teacher also talked about the various amount of time that the teachers focused on poetry, and he brought up my ex-friend’s teacher (the library has a window into that teacher’s classroom and during my free period I noticed that he went into the classroom. I’m not stalking him I just Noticed). This prompted me to think “what are the chances he’ll be in the poetry slam. oh god please let that not be true please please please I don’t want to have to talk about how many houseplants my cat has eaten in front of him fuck fuck fuck no.”

So of course he’s also in the poetry slam.

And like. Fine. Whatever. I can deal with it. I was kind of panicking afterwards, so I went into my ethnic studies class afterwards still lowkey freaking out about it and then I remembered. We had a lesson on disability—sorry, ability, that day. The teacher made some weird word choices when talking about disability but whatever. But, one of the slides was talking about ableism, and the teacher pronounced it “ab-LEE-ism” instead of “ay-bel-ism” or “able-ism”. I didn’t want to say anything but I didn’t have to because deadass half the class was like “isn’t it pronounced able-ism” which. Shocked me because I assumed they didn’t know what ableism was. Clearly I was wrong but that was definitely the funniest way to learn that most of my classmates at least know how most people pronounce ableism.

That is an uncomfortable and triggering situation to be in, but I'm sure you'll be able to deal with it and get through it! I'm definitely wishing you the best and sending my love! I hope soon this person will be gone from your life for good. And oh my god, ablEEism? What the hell? Clearly that teacher was not exactly equipped to give lessons on it. I'm glad it got corrected, at least. Also just say DISability oh my fucking god

[staggersz]

Any Griffin and Vance Headcanons? 🥺

you just opened a floodgate hang on let me go into my message history

Okay first off the bat!

Vance and Griffin are half brothers. They have the same mom, but different dads, one is physically absent while the other is just really awful towards Vance.

Vance has a bit of a scottish accent when he’s a bit angry, he got it from his dad (no i will not elaborate) He mostly looks like Bonnie, but there are some traits he got from his dad

Griffin had a bit of an italian accent since Bonnie moved from Italy to Colorado when she was much much younger. Griffin is american born but he’s clearly italian. He is like an almost exact carbon copy of Bonnie. He looks a lot like her and he looks pretty much nothing like his dad at all.

Sometimes Vance and Bonnie argue about the past (cough) Vance’s early childhood (cough) and when that happens Griffin just sits on the stairs and cries because he doesn’t want his mom and brother hating each other. They don’t hate each other but sometimes Vance feels the need to start an argument.

Griffin can barely remember any of his own trauma and he can’t remember what happened in the basement or anything related to it while Vance remembers everything down to the last detail.

When Vance learned Griffin couldn’t speak anymore he didn’t wanna admit it but he knew he was gonna miss Griffin’s voice. Griffin used to be a huge chatterbox and it used to annoy Vance but Vance misses it now.

Whenever Vance plays pinball, Griffin (and Billy) will stand at his side and watch him play and slide over quarters when he loses and Vance gets used to it :)

While Vance is extremely mature and he ends up acting like an adult in result of his trauma, Griffin is the opposite. Griffin’s brain puts him into involuntary age regression but because Griffin had forgotten so much about his trauma he kind of lost his perception of time in the past also. Griffin doesn’t comprehend that he isn’t acting his age.

They don’t believe in Santa Clause. Bonnie raised them where she told them off the bat Santa wasn’t a thing but since they were so little they literally dgaf. She tells them not to tell other kids. Griffin doesn’t tell, but while Vance was younger he said it if he was pissed off at some kid who was provoking him.

Whenever Griffin has to get a much needed haircut, Vance helps him calm down when Griffin panics and hugs him to comfort him.

Whenever Griffin is sad Vance makes him peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches because it’s Griffin’s favorite food! :)

thats all i can think of rn :3

[ctommyisnt]

Tommyinnit is a hair stylist au that I have so many ideas and outlines for but I wrote this last year and nothing else (not my best work bc I wrote this a year ago)(2k words):

With a jingle of the doors welcome bell, Tommy was interrupted from taking a bite of his roast beef sandwich. Something he had been looking forward to all day. But Tommy looked up, and his hope left when he saw that it was not his mother (meaning he would definitely be able to finish his lunch break). It was, in fact, a walk-in.

It was a sunday, at eight in the morning. Nobody came here at this hour and Tommy still fought his mother over her unreasonably early working hours. On a weekend.

(Oh, it’s good practice to get up early. Besides, you only work two days a week, it’s not too much trouble.)

Fuck.

“Hello?” The man said, kinda eyeing Tommy like he was a wild racoon sitting inside a football stadium. Like Tommy was out of place, something to be wary of, and about to steal some food. Idiot. He already had food.

“Yeah?” Tommy replied completely deadpan. Staring at the dangly man as if he could make him disappear. He fucking wished he could. The man looked unkempt yet dapper at the same time. A trendy and fashionable sweater looking like it hasn’t been washed in a week, and a flannel underneath untucked from his jeans. His eyebags nearly covered his entire face and his hands fidgeted at his hem and fingers constantly. The only thing perfect about the man was his hair. It was tidy, well groomed, and perfectly styled. As if this man had gotten out of bed in the same clothes as yesterday, yet still found himself able to apply product that morning.

Though by the looks of the man, morning probably meant an hour ago.

“Um, is anyone working here?” He asked, rubbing his thumb against his fingers nervously.

Tommy stared even harder at him, “I do.”

He paused, “do you do walk-ins?”

Tommy looked down at his sandwich, “if we’re not busy.”

“Oh,” at least he looked guilty, “Uh, I was looking to get a haircut?”

He narrowed his eyes. With only a quick glance, he could tell that the man had recently gotten a haircut. It was cut long, trimmed neatly at the nape of his neck and curls neatly swept across his forehead. It was professional, tidy even with the length, and likely cost a lot of money.

Now. Tommy could tell the man to fuck off so he could eat his sandwich in peace. But knowing his luck, his mom would come back from grabbing a new broom (he broke the last one) from the shops and scold him, and force Tommy to give him a free (free!) haircut.

“Yeah sure. Go sit down. Grab a magazine or something.” Tommy told him, immediately taking a bite of his sandwich.

He would be damned if he didn’t at least finish half his lunch before using scissors.

“So what’s your name?” He asked, settling into routine as he ambled over to the chair. Unprofessional as fuck, but hey, this man didn’t look like he cared in the slightest. Also he didn’t want to give him a panic attack for some reason. He turned the chair away from him so the brunette was facing the mirror.

“Wilbur. Wilbur soot.”

“Pretentious ass name,” Tommy quipped. From the mirror, he could see the man’s small smile. Aha! It was working. “Do you have any ideas what you want?”

Wilbur hesitated a moment before hardening his gaze, “shave it all off.”

Tommy paused. Like, full on double took.

“I’m sorry?”

“Shave it,” He repeated, daring Tommy to argue with him.

Now. He was taught better than this. His mother, the esteemed and astounding Kristin Innit, had told him the golden rule of hairdressing. ‘You can guide, advise, and even offer a nudge in a new direction, but the customer does get to make their own decision. No matter how wrong that decision is.

However, his mom would also be heartbroken if she knew he shaved off beautiful hair. And there was no doubt, however much Tommy did not want to admit it, this nervous wreck of a human being had beautiful hair.

“No.”

Wilbur startled, and spun the chair around, “I’m sorry?”

Tommy crossed his arms, “I said no, can you not understand me?”

“Oh I understand you just fine, I just think it’s completely rude to refuse a service.”

“Oh so your a fucking Karen now?”

Wilbur huffed, “No! I just-”

“Well you're acting like it. I’m trying to fucking help, why the hell would you shave your hair?”

“It’s none of your damn business!”

“You made it my business when you asked me to cut your hair!” He retorted.

God, people were so difficult. One, if you're going to shave your head it's so much cheaper to just buy a razor and do it at home. Two, while yes Tommy has shaved a head of hair off, but that was usually for nice reasons, like comradery for a friend or to donate hair. Or even cooler, some guy just discovering he’s trans or someone deciding to get a new look. Those people were always cool as fuck. This man? he looked like he was going through a midlife crisis at the ripe age of the mid twenties.

“Oh my god, are you going to do my hair or not? I can go somewhere else.”

Tommy sighed, “You absolute motherfucking-” he started, mumbling, “just- let me wash your hair first. Think it over.”

Wilbur rolled his head back, obviously annoyed, “fine. You're not convincing me otherwise, though.”

“Didn’t think so,” Tommy grumbled.

Tommy set him up with the basin and started the routine. This was one of his favorite tasks to do, which seemed weird. Especially since most customers hated it. Hell he used to hate washing other people’s hair for the longest time.

But now? It’s the feeling of caring for someone. Doing something small that they do on their own. Or maybe they don’t. It’s helping a stranger for now reason other than to help.

Or maybe he’s just getting paid to prepare them for a haircut. Who fucking knows.

“So why are you shaving it?” Tommy asked again, hoping the warm water would make this strange and uncomfortably tall man give out his secrets. That was also one of his favorite parts of his job. He got to hear all of the tea, and Tommy loves to gossip.

Wilbur huffed, “I thought I said it was none of your business?” he repeated, crossing his arms to prove a point.

“Need I remind you that hair is literally my business?” He said, scrubbing just a tad bit rougher than he would have. This man’s curly hair was soft to the touch but only because of the product from whatever salon he just came from. Tommy didn’t think he normally took care of it, just some nice but cheap hair products you buy from the department store. A shame, he has like, the best hair.

Other than Tommy’s, of course. Today it was mostly blonde with red highlights, hidden so it wasn’t obvious unless he was in the sun. It was dope as fuck.

“There’s no way you actually have the credentials,” Wilbur argued, “you’re literally what? Fourteen? How legal is this place?”

Tommy knew that it was rude but… he couldn’t help but splash some water on Wilbur’s face.

“First of all, fuck you. Second of all I am almost eighteen and I have my certifications they are on my fucking desk, I thought you got those ugly ass glasses so you could see. Also this is my mother’s place.” He ranted. Then he winced, his mom would have branded him with a curling iron if she heard him insult a customer, several times, without censorship, to their face. Honestly, Tommy thought he went too far at that point, but Wilbur called him fourteen and insulted his mom’s business.

But luckily for him, Wilbur snorted, “ahh, so it’s nepotism.”

“Kill yourself.”

“Duly noted.” He replied. Tommy washed the last of the soap out and started to drain the water out, grabbing one of the fluffy beige towels to pat most of the water off and moving him back to the mirror.

“So why did you come here?” Tommy asked, “you want to shave your head, you could’ve done it at home. Probably it would cost less too if you get a cheap enough razor.”

Wilbur rolled his neck, ouch, and stared at himself in the mirror, as if trying to interrogate it out of himself, “probably because I’d be too much of a pussy to actually go ahead with it. At least now I have someone else who wouldn’t hesitate,” Wilbur ran a hand through his still-damp hair,

“Or at least I thought I would.”

Tommy tilted his head, “do you not like the haircut? It’s not bad, looks expensive, but it may not be your style, hmm?” He fluffed the hair a bit, moving it this way and that. Mostly to piss off Wilbur.

“No- it’s,” he struggled under Tommy’s movements, “I’ve had the same haircut for two years and I just- my fucking hairstylist is so… pissy.”

Tommy narrowed his eyes, “elaborate.”

“Well- I got him when I first started my last job- an analyst for a big label company- and needed to look more professional, but I think I want to quit and I asked my stylist for a change and he said no.”

“Excuse me?” Tommy asked, spinning the chair so Wilbur was face to face with him instead of talking through the mirror, “he said no?”

“You said no! It seems to be very fucking common!” Wilbur exclaimed, hands shooting up, “I want to get rid of this fucking hair and quit my fucking job and fly to California or god knows where and completely start over but nobody is letting me!”

He groaned and put his face in his hands, fingers tugging at the hair in front of his face so it hung lower.

Tommy pursed his lips, so he was going through a midlife crisis.

“How old are you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Are you thirty?”

“Excuse me?”

Tommy rolled his eyes, “look, here’s what I think. One, your last stylist was an absolute dick who thinks he’s smart but is probably just a pretentious bitch. Two, just talking to I think you're definitely unsatisfied. Probably understimulated and overthinking too.”

Wilbur opened his mouth but Tommy put a finger in his face, “Three, I don’t think you actually want to shave your hair. That would just make you more depressed and self-loathingessed. But I have some ideas.”

Wilbur stared at him, “I thought you were a hair stylist not a therapist.”

“I can do both,” he joked.

Wilbur bit his lip and turned the chair back around so he was looking at himself again, rubbing his jaw and thinking. This time, Tommy let him think.

“I just- I don’t want to hate my hair even if I change it. How do I know I’ll still like it?” He asked.

Tommy pat his hands against him as he thought, “Tough one, you never truly know, but I can tell you that I am a five star stylist and can make anything look good.” He bragged to WIlbur, “why don’t we look at a few things and go from there, hmm?” Tommy asked.

And this time, Wilbur nodded.

They spent about twenty minutes looking through a few magazines or pictures Tommy had on his several pinterest boards. Eventually, through much debate, they decided on something a bit more simple.

Tommy snipped his hair on the sides, getting rid of the mini sideburns to give him more of a boyish look, expertly teasing the sides to bring more focus on the front and top of his hair, where most of the fluff was.

And for the fun part? Tommy had mentioned darker highlights and Wilbur had jumped at the chance. Nothing drastic, Wilbur didn’t want to get fired or to look like a fool, but he wanted something different. So Tommy delivered.

His mom walked in at some point, Tommy and Wilbur bantering drastically as the dye set, and offering a wave and a snort before she disappeared into the office. They got along like a house on fire, plus they both played minecraft.

“We will absolutely have to create a minecraft world together, I’m going to kick your ass at pvp.”

“Hard pass, I refuse to fight a child.”

“That’s because your a little bitch.”

“Okay but what about frosted tips?”

“Absolutely not.”

It wasn’t Tommy’s best work, and he definitely didn’t think Wilbur would stick with it, but the bemusement and relief that were in his client's eyes as he admired his hair in the mirror? It was one of his favorite feelings.

And sure, they hadn’t made that minecraft world, but Tommy had a feeling they would be meeting up again real soon.

—

[eva-knits12]

The Haircut

Trigger warning: crying, haircut, Colin Shea, office mean girls ,anxiety fluff

Summary: You get your first haircut in a while. It goes as well as expected. Colin comforts you.

"Colin, I'm getting a haircut today," I say, as I look at myself in the mirror. My hair is everywhere! I worked in an office that thrived on gossip, office drama, and bullying. I'm an IT, and I was a female in that position. The girls in the office treated me like shit because when they requested that a problem with their computers be fixed, I would show up.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We're waiting for a man," one would say.

"Who did you sleep with to get that position?" another would say.

"Really, this a man's job, so why are you doing a man's job?" a third would say.

I would have to escape somewhere and just cry. I would cry when I got home. I was trying not to let them get to me, but I was starting to crack. The more mean things they said, the more they got to me.

"Baby girl, that's great! You deserve it!" says Colin, who is more excited about that I am.

"You'll feel a lot better. Don't let these mean girls voices in your head control you any longer. You're beautiful, you're smart, you are worth the world," says Colin, cheering me up. He kisses me on my nose, making me giggle.

I made the appointment, and I get ready to go. I make an appointment for a cut and color, and Colin tells me that it will be okay.

"You think so Colin? I just don't deserve this. My cut and color will look horrible," I say.

"You don't know that. Don't let those mean girls get the best of you. They're in your head. They now have free rent in your head. It's time to evict them. They don't need the free rent in your head," says Colin.'

"You're the most beautiful woman and strongest woman I know," says Colin.

"I've seen my mom, and she's Irish," says Colin.

"Thanks, honey," I say.

I get in my Trax and go to the salon. I check in, and I wait for a bit. I pull out the fingerless gloves I'm knitting, while I wait for Justine.

I'm busy knitting, when I hear them. The feeling of nausea and dread hits me like a ton of bricks. I dig through my purse, in search of a starlight peppermint to ease the nausea, and I come up with a ginger chew. I eat the chew.

I hear Regina's voice, and I just freeze.

"I don't know why you're even bothering. Nobody can fix that ugly hair and ugly face of yours." says Regina.

"I didn't know that ugly was a requirement for this line of work," says Joanne.

"Yeah, she's way too ugly and way too plain," says Kari.

I feel like crying, but nope! As of right now, these girls are evicted. But, the owner. Tabatha, intervenes.

"As of right now, I'm going to have to ask you three to leave. I will not tolerate anyone harassing my customers. As of right now. Eva is a customer. She became a customer as soon as she walked through the door," says Tabatha.

"But, but. but. we just want what's best for her," says Regina.

"What's best for her is to get her hair done here! What's best for her is to not have to worry about three adults who are still nothing but high school mean girls," says Tabatha.

"Ever since we met, you guys were nice at first. Eventually, you showed your true colors. Spamming my inbox with whatever things you wanted because I disagreed with you, or even told you about an update or a technical issue. Telling the whole office I slept with the boss, when I needed his help to solve a client issue. Even claiming that I went so far as to sleep with Zach and Jake, what the hell is wrong with the whole lot of you? Jake is in a happy long-term relationship, and Zach is happily married. Zach helped me get this job, and I owe him the world," I say.

"You can't handle the fact that I have a high degree in my field. I'm an IT. I studied computer sciences, even computer engineering, and even studied coding," I say.

"Colin finds it amazing, and I can't say the same for you," I say.

"Well, we refuse to leave. She can leave, we'll stay," says Kari.

"NO! That's now how this works. I have asked you to leave. Since you refuse, I'm going to have to have the police escort the whole lot of you out," says Tabatha.

Erica calls the police. Regina, Joanne, and Kari are all charged with trespassing, and they're arrested. Tabatha decides to trespass them, and they're not welcome back through the doors. I decide to file for a restraining order as a just-in-case, even though it would be hard to get.

Tabatha takes me to her chair, and she starts to discuss what I want. I'm not sure, so I let her make some suggestions.

I get my hair colored, and then cut. I walk out with a nice, neck length cut that it's easy to do and put into a bun, a chignon, or even a pony tail when needed, since I'm so used to putting my hair back at some point.

I look at myself in the mirror and I'm amazed. I love my new look!

I return home, and Colin doesn't recognize me.

"That's not my beautiful girlfriend who just put three mean girls in their place," says Colin.

Colin loves my new hair cut, and my new hairstyle!

"I heard what happened. Word got around, and let's just say, it got back to them," says Colin.

"You heard from Sean, didn't you?" I say.

"Yes, and getting a restraining order is a good idea. They don't deserve the free rent in your head, and they don't deserve the free space in your life," says Colin.

Colin has grabbed me around the waist, knowing that I handled myself well, even though I was full of anxiety. I was determined not to let it show.

"I'm proud of you," says Colin, beaming.

"I love you, rock star," I say.

"I love you, too, baby girl," says Colin.

'Put on a nice dress, and I'm taking my baby for a night out on the town," says Colin.

"Dinner sounds amazing," I say.

"Wait, why don't we order our favorite Chinese dishes, put on a movie, and jus spend the night as lazy slobs?" says Colin, kissing me lovingly.

"That sounds even better," I say.

Colin orders our favorite Chinese dishes. I get the almond boneless chicken, and Colin gets his favorite Chinese spare ribs.

Colin and I watch Knives Out, followed by the Losers. Colin and I just eat off of our plates, and feed each other bites. Dessert is fortune cookies, followed by those almond cookies we like.

Colin and I spend the weekend just being lazy slobs, and taking a nice, romantic bath at the end. It was much needed, and did me a world of good.

I return to the office first thing on Monday. I worked from home while I was busy dealing with the restraining order and the police. Colin is with me every step of the way. Jake and Zach, and my boss have heard, and well, I walked into the office with three new people, who are friendly and professional.

[manwalksintobar]

The Wrestler’s Heart  // Gary Soto

I had no choice but to shave my hair And wrestle — thirty guys humping one another On a mat. I didn't like high school. There were no classes on archeology, And the girls were too much like flowers To bother with them. My brother, I think, Was a hippie, and my sister, I know, Was the runner-up queen of the Latin American Club When I saw her in the cafeteria, waved And said things like, Debbie, is it your turn To do the dishes tonight? she would smile and Make real scary eyes. When I saw my brother In his long hair and sissy bell-bottom pants, He would look through me at a little snotty Piece of gum on the ground. Neither of them Liked me. So I sided with the wrestling coach, But first there was wrestling, young dudes In a steamy room, and coach with his silver whistle, His clipboard, his pencil behind his clubbed ear. I was no good. Everyone was larger In the showers, their cocks like heavy wrenches, Their hair like the scribbling of a mad child. I would lather as best I could to hide What I didn't have, then walk home In the dark. When we wrestled Madera High, I was pinned in twelve seconds. My Mom threw me a half stick of gum From the bleachers. She shouted, It's Juicy Fruit! And I just look at her. I looked at The three spectators, all crunching corn nuts, Their faces like punched-in paper bags. We lost that night. The next day in Biology I chewed my half stick of Juicy Fruit And thought about what can go wrong In twelve seconds. The guy who pinned Me was named Bloodworth, a meaningful name. That night I asked Mom what our name meant in Spanish. She stirred crackling papas and said it meant Mexican. I asked her what was the worst thing that happened To her in the shortest period Of time. She looked at my stepfather's chair And told me to take out the garbage. That year I gained weight, lost weight, And lost more matches, nearly all by pins. I wore my arm in a sling when I got blood poisoning from a dirty fingernail. I liked that. I liked being hurt. I even went so far As limping, which I thought would attract girls.

One day at lunch the counselor called me to his office. I killed my sandwich in three bites. In his Office of unwashed coffee mugs, He asked what I wanted from life. I told him I wanted to be an archeologist, And if not that, then an oceanographer. I told him that I had these feelings I was Chinese, that I had lived before And was going to live again. He told me To get a drink of water and that by fifth period I would reconsider what I was saying. I studied some, dated once, ate the same sandwich Until it was spring in most of the trees That circled the campus, and wrestling was over. Then school was over. That summer I mowed lawns, Picked grapes, and rode my bike Up and down my block because it was good For heart and legs. The next year I took Driver's Ed. Coach was the teacher. He said, Don't be scared But you're going to see some punks Getting killed. If you're going to cry, Do it later. He turned on the projector, A funnel of silver light that showed motes of dust Then six seconds of car wreck from different angles. The narrator with a wrestler's haircut came on. His face was thick like a canned ham Sliding onto a platter. He held up a black tennis shoe. He said, The boy who wore this sneaker is dead. Two girls cried. Three boys laughed. Coach smiled and slapped the clipboard Against his leg, kind of hard. With one year of wresting behind me, I barely peeked but thought, Six seconds for the kid with the sneakers, Twelve seconds for Bloodworth to throw me on my back. Tough luck in half the time.